The United States and Europe increase sanctions against Russia

The United States and the European Union have increased sanctions against Russia for its recognition of the breakaway regions of eastern Ukraine, Lugansk and Donetsk.

US President Joe Biden has also coordinated with Germany to impose sanctions on the company responsible for building the Russian Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline as well as its managers.

These actions are another part of the initial tranche of sanctions in response to Russia’s actions. As I made clear, we will not hesitate to take further measures if Russia continues its escalation.”

On Tuesday, Germany suspended the certification of a gas pipeline worth 11 thousand million dollars. Nord Stream 2 is a Swiss company whose mother is the Russian gas giant Gazprom.

For its part, the European Union imposed sanctions on top Russian officials such as Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, senior military leaders, Presidential Chief of Staff Anton Vaino and Economic Development Minister Maxim Reshetnikov.

In addition, the spokeswoman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maria Sagarova, and the editor-in-chief of the RT news channel, Margarita Simonyan, whom she called “the central figures of government propaganda”, were sanctioned.

According to the Official Journal of the European Union, sanctioned persons will not be able to access the territory, any assets they may have in the EU space will be frozen, and they are also prohibited from receiving any kind of financing from a European source.

He said these were members of the government “involved in illegal decisions”, banks and businessmen who “materially or financially support Russian operations” in the two regions, as well as military leaders for their role in “incursions or destabilizing actions”.

It also adopted limitations on the financing capabilities of the Russian state, government, and central bank, which it proposes to limit access to European financial and capital markets and thus affect the refinancing of Russian debt.