U.S. Responds To Putin's Seizure Of Ukrainian Regions By Piling On Sanctions

"We will not stand by as Putin fraudulently attempts to annex parts of Ukraine," said Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen said in a news release on September 30. (file photo)

The United States slapped more sanctions on individual Russians on September 30 after Russian President Vladimir Putin signed what Russia called "accession treaties" to formally seize occupied regions of Ukraine.

The Treasury Department said it designated hundreds of members of Russia's legislature, leaders of the country's financial and military infrastructure, and suppliers supporting Russia’s military-industrial complex.

The department described the sanctions as "swift and severe" in response to Putin's "purported annexation" of the Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhya, and Kherson regions in Ukraine.

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"We will not stand by as Putin fraudulently attempts to annex parts of Ukraine," Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen said in a news release. "The Treasury Department and U.S. government are taking sweeping action today to further weaken Russia's already degraded military industrial complex and undermine its ability to wage its illegal war."

Yellen said the Treasury Department was also targeting leaders of Russia's financial architecture "as part of our aggressive and coordinated effort to hold Putin and his enablers accountable for his unprovoked invasion, and limit their ability to prop up their economy."

The Treasury Department's announcement was coordinated with the Commerce Department, which added 57 companies to its list of export control violators.

In addition, the U.S. State Department imposed visa restrictions on 910 people, including members of the Russian military, Belarusian military officials, and Russian proxies acting in Russia-held portions of Ukraine, the department said.

The State Department is imposing sanctions on family members of the mayor of Moscow, who is also a member of Russia's Security Council, and visa restrictions on Russian national Ochur-Suge Mongush, who is accused by the United States of torturing a Ukrainian prisoner of war.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States "unequivocally rejects Russia's fraudulent attempt to change Ukraine's internationally recognized borders."

The United States is issuing a clear warning supported by leaders of the Group of Seven that the countries will "hold to account any individual, entity, or country that provides political or economic support for Russia's illegal attempts to change the status of Ukrainian territory," Blinken said.

The G7 industrialized nations on September 23 issued guidance that designated several international suppliers and associated individuals that have supported Russia's defense sector. The Treasury Department said it was immediately implementing the guidance.

"Through its historically unprecedented campaign of sanctions and export controls, the United States and an international coalition of allies and partners have devastated Russia's ability to access foreign components and technology," the department said.

As a result of the sanctions, Russia's defense-industrial base "is desperate to provision its war efforts and has resorted to third-country intermediaries and suppliers," the Treasury Department said.

The additional sanctions announced on September 30 follow significant financial penalties imposed on Russia, its leadership, and oligarchs tied to Putin by the United States and European nations since the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

As the war grinds on, its devastating impact on the global economy has become more pronounced in disruptions to supplies of energy and food throughout the world.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development this week said the global economy is set to lose $2.8 trillion in output in 2023 because of the war.

With reporting by AP