Banking and financial sectors, trade, energy and people – the US, EU and other G7 countries imposed punitive measures once morest Russia. An overview.
In response to the rUS recognition of the pro-Russian separatist areas in the Ostukraine first sanction packages decided. The EU sanctions are due to come into force on Wednesday. The punitive measures of the individual G7 countries differ, but are intended primarily to hit those in Russia who were included in the recognition of the separatist areas. There are also measures once morest the Russian financial and energy sectors. According to the governments, the package is only a first step. Further punitive measures are to follow if Russia is in the Ukraine continue to act militarily. An overview:
banking and finance sector
The UK, with its financial center London, has imposed sanctions on five smaller Russian banks – Bank Rossiya, Black Sea Bank, Genbank, IS Bank and Promsvyazbank. Only Promsvyazbank is on the Russian central bank’s list of systemically important credit institutions. However, access to the London financial center has not yet been closed.
The US imposed sanctions on VEB Bank and also on Promsvyazbank, which is active in the defense sector. All assets subject to US jurisdiction are to be frozen immediately. US persons and entities are prohibited from doing business. The EU has declared banks involved in financing separatist activities in the Ostukraine involved to be blacklisted. However, a real blow would probably only come from sanctions once morest the big banks in Russia, which are firmly integrated into the global financial system.
The USA, the EU and Japan have also imposed restrictions on trading in Russian government bonds.
Trade
The EU and Japan have banned trade with companies in the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Luhansk. The EU deletes both areas from the EU Association Agreement with the Ukrainewhich gives goods from the country preferential access to the internal market.
energy
Germany took possibly the biggest step in the first round of sanctions: Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced on Tuesday that he would postpone certification for the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. The decision to conduct a new study on security of supply is not formally a sanction at all. But it is a sign for the government in Moscow: The Russian energy company Gazprom is losing billions in revenue due to the now very likely postponement of an operating license or even the end of Nord Stream 2.
The USA, on the other hand, expressly did not issue any sanctions once morest the energy markets in the first stage – and according to a statement by a US official, they do not intend to do so in the future either. The background is also concerns that in the event of sanctions, energy prices will rise and inflation will be fueled. The US is also buying billions in oil from Russia.
people
Many sanctions passed by Western states once morest people are aimed either at those close to Putin or at politicians who were directly involved in recognizing the separatist areas. For example, the EU on Monday imposed sanctions on five other people involved in the 2014 annexation of Crimea. In addition, the EU is now including all members of the Russian parliament on the sanctions list who had voted for the recognition of the separatist area. They are no longer allowed to enter the EU and their assets in the EU are frozen.
Britain joined existing US sanctions on three men who became rich in Putin’s wake: Gennady Timchenko and billionaires Igor and Boris Rotenberg. The United States, for its part, has now expanded the circle and put Alexander Bortnikov, head of the domestic intelligence service, on the sanctions list – as well as his son Denis. He is Deputy President of the state-owned VTB Bank Public Joint Stock Company.
Japan imposed an entry ban and blocked accounts for the people involved in the governments in the two so-called People’s Republics. Australia also wants to go this route
(Archyde.com)