Monitoring Desk
WASHINGTON: The United States (US) marked the first anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine with $2 billion in weaponry for Ukraine and new sanctions against Russia to undermine Moscow’s ability to wage war.
US President Joe Biden‘s government unveiled the sanctions as the Group of 7 bloc of the world’s wealthy nations and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy met to discuss additional aid.
Among the steps were freezing assets of allies of President Vladimir Putin, placing visa restrictions on Russian military members, effectively banning aluminum imports from Russia, putting the country’s second-largest mobile phone company Megafon on a trade blacklist, and curbing Russian banking and arms-making activity.
US sanctions will not effect Russia
Russian ambassador Anatoly Antonov said the sanctions would have no effect on Russia.
The administration also told China and other countries they should not try to support Russia in evading sanctions.
“We will sanction additional actors related to the defense and technology industry of Russia, including those responsible for enabling Russian sanctions evasion or backfilling Russian stocks of sanctioned items or,” the White House said.
Western aid to Ukraine fell short of providing the F-16 fighter jets that Ukraine has requested, and some US officials are raising doubts about the impact of such measures to slow the increasing hostilities on the battlefield before an anticipated springtime offensive.
