The U.S. Announced New Sanctions Against Russia

On March 31, U.S. Secretary of State Blinken issued a statement saying that the authorities in Moscow will continue to pay a heavy price for the illegal war waged by president Putin against Ukraine. It is reported on the same day, Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) will impose further sanctions on 21 entities and 13 individuals of Kremlin’s sanctions evasion networks and technology companies. New sanctions will create further obstacles to Russia’s access to Western technology and the international financial system.

Earlier, the U.S. government had announced two batches of sanctions against certain Russian individuals and companies for their direct support of Putin’s war against Ukraine, including Mikron JSC, Russia’s largest chipmaker, manufacturer and exporter of microelectronics: the company is responsible for exporting more than 50 percent of Russian microelectronics and producing domestic chips for Russia’s national payment card system, Mir.

On the other hand, the U.S. also announced sanctions against three Russian individuals involved in malicious cyber activities, one of whom was indicted by the U.S. Department of Justice last week. According to reports, they interfered with and disrupted the cyber facilities of the United States and its allies and partners, and engaged in other cyber destabilization activities.

In addition to the above sanctions, the U.S. Department of Treasury is expanding its sanctions authority against Russia. Currently, Russia’s aerospace, maritime and electronics sectors are included in the sanctions.