U.S. imposes latest round of Russia sanctions, more to follow

The U.S. Treasury announced on Nov. 8 it has imposed
sanctions of two Ukrainian citizens, a Russian officer and nine businesses for
Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea and profiting from the occupation, the
Reuters news agency reported. Among the business targeted, the Southern Project
LLC, was linked to Bank Rossiya and Russian businessman Yuri Kovalchuk, whom
the U.S. Treasury called “the personal banker” for senior Russian officials and
who has already been targeted with Crimea-related sanctions.

The U.S. State Department said on Nov. 6 it will
impose additional sanctions on Russia after it failed to give reasonable
assurances it will not use chemical weapons after a nerve agent attack on a
former Russian spy in the U.K., the Reuters news agency reported that day.
Under a 1991 chemical and biological eliminations act, Russia had to end the
use of the nerve agent Novichok (used in the Skripal poisoning), commit to not
using chemical weapons against its own people and allow on-site inspections by
agencies like the U.N.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko issued a
statement this morning welcoming the latest round of U.S. sanctions. “This is a
clear signal that all those who are responsible for the criminal occupation of
the Ukrainian peninsula and the hybrid aggression in Donbas won’t elude
responsibility,” he said. “I think that our other partners should follow this
example. With a common transatlantic front, we will force the Kremlin to change
its behavior, remove its mercenaries from Ukraine, return stolen territories
and respect international law!”

Zenon Zawada: The U.S.
remains committed to fulfilling its leadership role in pressuring the Russian
government to halt its occupation of Ukraine. Its strategy involves gradually
intensifying restrictions on economic and travel activity against key Russian
officials and entrepreneurs. So far, the strategy has been successful in
keeping the warfare in Ukraine to a minimum level, with minimum casualties.

The sanctions strategy hasn’t stopped Russia from
expanding its hybrid war in its current campaign to control the Azov and Black
seas. Meanwhile, the Russian economic capitulation that had been expected to
occur by now won’t happen any time in the short term (next three years).