[Russia] - U.S. Widens Sanctions Against Russia Over Ukraine Invasion

INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
The United States on Wednesday announced a raft of new sanctions aimed at constraining Moscow's ability to wage war on Ukraine while
raising the stakes for foreign banks that still do business with Russia.The Treasury Department and State Department's sanctions impacted
more than 300 targets, including entities in Russia and countries like China, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.Those designated include
the Moscow Exchange and several subsidiaries, a move set to complicate billions of dollars in transactions, as well as entities involved in
three liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects."Today's actions strike at their remaining avenues for international materials and equipment,
including their reliance on critical supplies from third countries," Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a statement."We are increasing
the risk for financial institutions dealing with Russia's war economy and eliminating paths for evasion, and diminishing Russia's
ability to benefit from access to foreign technology, equipment, software, and IT services," she added.Besides the fresh sanctions, the
Treasury Department is broadening its definition of Russia's "military-industrial base."Until now, foreign banks could be sanctioned for
supporting Russia's defense industry
The latest step expands the reach of so-called secondary sanctions to all Russian individuals and entities that have already been impacted
by United States sanctions.That means foreign financial institutions could be hit for conducting transactions involving any blocked person
to restrict the supply of IT services and certain software support to people in Russia as well.Meanwhile, the latest sanctions impact
transnational networks, hitting more than 90 people and entities in places like China, South Africa, Turkey and the UAE, the Treasury
said.Washington says that goods and services from these foreign networks helped Russia to sustain its war and avoid sanctions.A senior
United States official told reporters Wednesday that efforts to restrict Russia's ability to sustain the war in Ukraine have had a
"significant impact.""Global exports to Russia have fallen by almost $90 billion, and United States exports to Russia have essentially
halted for everything but certain medical items like vaccines," the official said on condition of anonymity.The Treasury also expanded its
list of information for five sanctioned Russian financial institutions to include addresses and aliases of their foreign locations.The
addresses listed will impact almost $100 million in high-priority items including semiconductors, the United States official said, adding
that much of the sanctions evasion appears to be going through entities in China.Washington's actions come ahead of this week's G7
summit in Italy
The White House previously said that steps to aid Ukraine using frozen Russian assets will be announced during the gathering.G7 leaders hope
to reach a deal on using the profits from the interest on 300 billion euros ($325 billion) of frozen Russian Central Bank assets to help
Kyiv.