Tag Archives: Crimea

US Expands Sanctions on Russia

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The Obama administration angered Putin and the Kremlin by sanctioning 34 additional individuals and entities for assisting Russian and Ukrainian companies to avoid US penalties and other punishments.

The expansion of the sanctions will help to “maintain the efficacy of existing sanctions” which were put in place in reaction to the Russian annexation of the Crimea last year and for the support that Russian has given to eastern Ukrainian separatists.

Fourteen of the 34 are connected to “serious and sustained evasion,” or are divisions of firms already on the sanctioned list. The treasury department said that six separatists and two ex-government officials from the Ukraine are “complicit” in corruption, or in weakening the Ukrainian government. US citizens are restricted from doing business with those on this list, and any US assets held by these entities are now frozen.

The new sanctions match those put in place by America’s allies and demonstrate Washington’s “unwavering resolve to pressure Russia to respect the security and sovereignty of Ukraine,” John Smith, the acting sanction boss of the treasury department said.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded to the US move:

“This is a continuation of the unfriendly line against Russia that runs counter to logic, ” he said.

Putin Threatens to Retaliate to Additional Western Sanctions

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The Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Saturday that his country was prepared to respond in kind to any additional sanctions that the US imposes on Russia.

The US Congress passed a law mandating restrictions on Russian weapons companies and investors in high-tech oil projects which is now waiting for President Obama’s signature to become operational. The new sanctions are a further response to Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine last March, and their support of pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine.

“We will not be able to leave that without an answer,” Russia’s Interfax news agency quoted Ryabkov as saying.

Russia has consistently denied supporting the rebels with arms or otherwise but that has not prevented the west, including the US and the EU, from imposing economic sanctions in increasing severity on large companies as well as individuals.

Russia has already reacted to past sanctions by restricting the importation of food from a wide range of Western countries. Russia responded with harsh words to the latest congressional action, the Ukraine Freedom Support Act. The Act mandates further sanctions, to which Russia responded by saying that the law will “destroy the carcass of cooperation” between the US and Russia.

White House Officials Worried About Russian Stealth

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Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Putin

A US official told the Wall Street Journal of the White House concern that Russian leader Vladimir Putin was able to hide his intentions towards Crimea from the National Security Agency.

The official said that the Obama administration is “very nervous” about Russia’s successful subterfuge; taking over Crimea and bringing troops to the Ukrainian border and hiding it from US eavesdropping equipment. “This is unchartered territory,” he said.

According to the WSJ US officials are in the dark about how Russia was able to hide its plans from the NSA, which spies on digital and electronic communications.

Apparently, says the Journal, Russian leaders either “deliberately avoided communicating about the invasion or simply found a way to do so without detection by the U.S.”
Another worry for US deterrence is whether this new secrecy is part of a wider trend in which Russia can act without US foreknowledge.

“All military combat operations depend on NSA contributions,” said former assistant command security manager in the US Navy, and consultant Robert Caruso during a discussion about documents potentially accessed by Edward Snowden. “[The Department of Defense] depends on NSA and the Defense Information Systems Agency to secure all its networks and others networks too.”