WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States and its Western allies plan to impose additional sanctions on Russia on Wednesday following disturbing new evidence of war crimes in Ukraine, according to the White House. The new sanctions will include a ban on all new investments in Russia.
Among the other measures being taken against Russia are increased sanctions on its financial institutions and state-owned companies, and sanctions on government officials and their family members, according to White House press secretary Jen Psaki.
“The goal is to force them to make a decision,” he said. “Most of our goal here is to exhaust whatever resources Putin has to continue his war against Ukraine.”
Separately, the Treasury Department moved Tuesday to block any Russian government debt payments with US dollars from accounts at US financial institutions, making it harder for Russia to meet its financial obligations.
President Joe Biden and US allies have worked together to impose crippling economic sanctions against Russia for invading Ukraine more than a month ago, including freezing central bank assets, export controls and property seizures. , including yachts, belonging to Russia. rich elite. But this week calls for increased sanctions intensified in response to the attacks, killings and destruction in the Ukrainian city of Bucha.
The sanctions are intended to further Russia’s economic, financial and technological “isolation” from the rest of the world as punishment for its attacks on civilians in Ukraine, Psaki said. That isolation is a key aspect of the US strategy, which is based on the idea that Russia will ultimately lack the resources and equipment to continue waging a protracted war in Ukraine.
Psaki said the administration is evaluating “consequences and additional steps that we can take,” but stressed that Biden is not considering any military action.
An increasingly desperate Russia has engaged in military tactics that have outraged much of the wider world community, leading to accusations that it is committing war crimes and causing other sanctions.
Still, almost the entire EU has refrained from an outright ban on Russian oil and natural gas that would likely crush the Russian economy. The United States banned fossil fuels in Russia, while Lithuania blocked natural gas from that country on Saturday, becoming the first of 27 EU members to do so. The EU executive branch on Tuesday proposed a ban on Russian coal, while Germany’s government intends to stop using Russian natural gas within the next two years.
On Monday, Biden called for his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, to be tried for war crimes and face new sanctions due to atrocities and abuses seen in kyiv after Russian forces withdrew from the Ukrainian capital. The corpses of what appeared to be civilians were seen strewn in the courtyards, many of them probably killed at close range.
Biden said the United States and its allies would gather details for a war crimes trial, stressing that Putin has been “brutal” and his actions “outrageous.”
Associated Press journalists saw dozens of bodies in Bucha, on the outskirts of kyiv. There were at least 13 bodies in and around a building that locals said Russian troops used as a base. Three other bodies were found in a stairwell, and a group of six were burned together.
Many victims seen by AP appeared to have been shot at close range. Some were shot in the head. At least two had their hands tied. A spilled bag of groceries lay near one victim.
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