Joe Biden on Friday announced that Washington would issue more than 500 new sanctions targeting Russia as the US seeks to increase pressure on Moscow to mark the second anniversary of its war in Ukraine.
The US will also impose new export restrictions on nearly 100 entities for providing support to Russia, and take action to further reduce Russia’s energy revenues, the president said in a statement.
Biden has said the measures seek to hold Russia to account over the war and the death of the opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Washington expects to continue to support Ukraine even as that country faces shortages of ammunition and US military aid has been delayed for months in Congress.
“They will ensure Putin pays an even steeper price for his aggression abroad and repression at home,” Biden said of the new sanctions.
Friday’s measures target individuals connected to Navalny’s imprisonment as well as Russia’s financial sector, defence industrial base, procurement networks and sanctions evaders across multiple continents, he said.
“Two years into this war, the people of Ukraine continue to fight with tremendous courage. But they are running out of ammunition. Ukraine needs more supplies from the United States to hold the line against Russia’s relentless attacks, which are enabled by arms and ammunition from Iran and North Korea,” Biden added.
“That’s why the House of Representatives must pass the bipartisan national security supplemental bill, before it’s too late.”