US Treasury Department expanded sanctions on Russia
The US expanded sanctions against Russia imposed in relation to the Crimean Peninsula and to Moscow's policy in the east of Ukraine. According to a report published on Tuesday, December 20th, on the website of the US Treasury, seven more individuals and more than 20 companies were included in the sanctions list.
Individuals who were included on the sanctions list were businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin, who has close business ties with the Russian Ministry of Defense and the managers of the banks Rossiya Bank, ABR Management and Sobinbank; Mikhail Dedov, Mikhail Klishin, Kirill Kovalchuk, Dmitry Lebedev, Dmitry Mansurov, and Oleg Minaev.
Also, Novatek and its regional branches, Crimea Sea Ports, Crimea Railway, Transflot and others appeared among the blacklist of companies to which sanctions were imposed. In addition, sanctions were imposed on two Russian vessels.
On Monday, December 19th, sanctions against Russia that were imposed because of the annexation of the Crimea and the conflict in eastern Ukraine were also officially extended by the European Union. The validity of these restrictive measures was extended until July 31st, 2017.