November 22, 2024

U.S. Treasury Targets Russia’s Gazprombank with New Sanctions

Source: Reuters

Journalists: Timothy Gardner, Daphne Psaledakis

The United States imposed new sanctions on Russia's Gazprombank on Thursday, the Treasury Department said, as President Joe Biden steps up actions to punish Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine before he leaves office in January.

The move, which wields the department's most powerful sanctions tool, means Gazprombank cannot handle any new energy-related transactions that touch the U.S. financial system, bans its trade with Americans and freezes its U.S. assets.

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Edward Fishman, a former U.S. official now a research scholar at Columbia University, said Thursday's action was an important step taking aim at Russia's energy revenues.

"This signals that the Biden administration is actually serious about cutting off flows of funds to Russia for energy during the lame duck period, which is ... a significant development," Fishman said.

The Biden administration may take further actions before leaving office to toughen up the energy sanctions, Fishman said. "It's a very big step, but I don't think that it's the last we'll hear from the Biden administration on energy sanctions."

Read the full article and more on Reuters.

Author

  • Edward Fishman