U.S. Warns Of Sanctions For 'Those Stand Beside Russia on Illegal Annexation'

Washington on Friday warned that those who stand with Russia on Vladimir Putin’s latest effort to legitimize his attempted land grab in Ukraine will be subject to sanctions, TURAN's U.S. correspondent reports from the White House.

"We want to send a clear message to the rest of the world that those companies, those individuals and those countries that are going to stand beside Russia on this issue of illegal annexation: they will subject themselves to sanctions," White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said during a White House press briefing.

"And we do believe that that will have a considerable deterrent effect and have seen that in other circumstances," Sullivan added.

The move came as the Biden administration on Friday announced new economic sanctions on hundreds of Russian officials in response to the Kremlin’s illegal annexation of four regions of Ukraine.

The Treasury Department named 14 international suppliers that assisted Russia’s military supply chains. It also imposed designations on 109 members of Russia’s State Duma and 169 members of the Federation Council of Russia's Federal Assembly. 

Also new on Friday is the addition of Elvira Sakhipzadovna Nabiullina, Russia’s central bank governor and a former advisor to Putin. Additionally, the newly sanctioned family members are the relatives of members of Russia’s National Security Council. They include Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin’s wife and two adult children, along with Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu’s wife and adult children.

Meanwhile, the State Department said it will impose visa restrictions on Ochur-Suge Mongush, for a gross violation of human rights perpetrated against a Ukrainian prisoner of war and 910 individuals. The department also imposed visa restrictions on members of the Russian military, Belarusian military officials and proxies operating on behalf of the Kremlin.

What’s more, the Commerce Department is adding 57 entities to its export controls list. It will reiterate that countries that seek to provide material support to Russia and Belarus’ defense sector are subject to penalties.

"We are also issuing a clear warning supported by G7 Leaders: We will hold to account any individual, entity, or country that provides political or economic support for Russia’s illegal attempts to change the status of Ukrainian territory," Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.

Speaking to reporters at the State Department along with the Canadian Foreign Minister, Blinken said "no one is fooled by what Moscow has done."

"The world saw the way Russia conducted these so-called referenda, with Russian occupation forces going door to door and forcing Ukrainian citizens to cast their ballots at gunpoint.  The entire process around these sham referenda was a complete farce." he added. "This territory is and will remain Ukrainian, and Ukraine has every right to defend its land, to defend its people, and to take back the territory that Russia has seized from it," he said.

In their turn, G7 Foreign Ministers issued a statement Friday night expressing their united condemnation "in the strongest possible terms" of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and its continued violations of Ukraine’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, and Independence.

"We will impose further economic costs on Russia, and on individuals and entities – inside and outside of Russia – that provide political or economic support to these violations of international law. We are unwavering in our support for Ukraine’s right to defend itself against Russia’s war of aggression and its unquestionable right to reclaim its territory from Russia," they noted.

Alex Raufoglu

Washington D.C.