The new round of sanctions by the European Union and the United States against Moscow are in fact threatening Russia to cripple its economy, reports RT on Wednesday.
The 28-member nations tied to the EU were first to acknowledge in a statement Tuesday that they have agreed to impose broader sanctions to “limit access to EU capital markets for Russian State-owned financial institutions, impose an embargo on trade in arms, establish an export ban for dual use goods for military end users and curtail Russian access to sensitive technologies particularly in the field of the oil sector.”
It is the most EU serious step against Russia to increase pressure on the Russian government for several months in addition extending visa bans and asset freezes for a number of individuals that the EU considers responsible for Moscow's policy toward Ukraine.
Hours after the announcement of the European sanctions, US President Barack Obama said during an afternoon address outside of the White House that the Treasury Department was adding four names to the list of Russian Federation-affiliated entities sanctioned by Washington.
The US has previously imposed a number of sanctions against Russia, including penalties on the nation’s largest oil producer, Rosneft, and banking giant Vnesheconombank, among others, to punish the Federation over its perceived involvement in the eastern Ukrainian conflict that in recent months has pitted the country’s own military against anti-Kiev militias.
The latest round of penalties, however, is the first imposed by either the EU or US in the wake of the tragic Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 crash that cost nearly 300 passengers their lives earlier this month.
Russia repeatedly denied accusations that it is relocating troops to the Ukrainian borders and supplying anti-Kiev militias with arms.
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