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
The latest step expands the reach of so-called secondary sanctions to all Russian individuals and entities that have already been impacted
sanctions.That means foreign financial institutions could be hit for conducting transactions involving any blocked person or designated
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 U.S
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 U.S
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
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
