The United States has imposed sanctions on Russian citizens and entities accused of evading existing penalties levied for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“Treasury can and will target those who evade, attempt to evade, or aid the evasion of U.S. sanctions against Russia, as they are helping support Putin’s brutal war of choice,” Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson said in a statement.
The U.S. Treasury said it designated conservative media tycoon Konstantin Malofeyev and his “broad malign influence network” of more than 40 individuals and entities.
These include Central Bank deputy governor Ksenia Yudayeva and former Deputy Prime Minister Mikhail Zadornov, who are considered to be some of the most influential liberal economists still in Russia.
The U.S. Treasury placed blocking sanctions on privately owned Transkapitalbank, accused of creating its own online financial transfer system bypassing SWIFT and offering access to Chinese, Middle East and other foreign banks to avoid U.S. or European banks.
The U.S. has also for the first time sanctioned a cryptocurrency mining company, including digital currency firm Bitriver AG, which was first founded in Russia, and 10 of its subsidiaries in the Treasury’s package.
Additionally, the U.S. State Department imposed visa bans on 635 Russian nationals, eastern Ukraine’s pro-Moscow separatists and 17 people accused of undermining democracy in Belarus.
Russia’s Embassy in Washington called the latest penalties “absurd” and vowed to continue what it calls a “special military operation” in Ukraine.
The U.S. sanctions “prove Washington's desperation about the inability to bend our country to its will,” the embassy said in a Facebook post Thursday.
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