Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register WASHINGTON, April 6 (Reuters) – The United States targeted Russian banks and elites on Wednesday with a new package of sanctions, including a ban on Americans investing in Russia, in response to President Joe Biden’s condemnation. »In Ukraine. The new sanctions hit Russia’s Sberbank (SBER.MM), which owns a third of Russia’s total banking assets, and Alfabank, the country’s fourth-largest financial institution, US officials said. However, energy transactions were exempted from the latest measures, officials said. The United States is also imposing sanctions on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s two adult daughters, the wife and daughter of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and members of Russia’s Security Council, officials said. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register “I have made it clear that Russia will pay a serious and immediate price for its atrocities in Bucha,” Biden said in a Twitter message, referring to the city recaptured by Russian forces, where civilians were shot at close range. “Today, together with our Allies and partners, we are announcing a new round of catastrophic sanctions,” Biden said. Russia, which says it launched a “special military operation” in Ukraine on February 24, denies targeting civilians, saying the images of the deaths were a “monstrous forgery” organized by the West. State-owned Sberbank, Russia’s largest lender, and Alfabank said the new sanctions would not have a significant impact on their operations. read more The White House also said that Biden was signing an executive order that “includes banning new investment in Russia from Americans wherever they are, which would further isolate Russia from the world economy.” That would include a ban on venture capital and mergers, officials said. As part of a package coordinated with the allies, the United States is “dramatically escalating” the economic shock in Russia by cutting off the country’s largest banks, a senior government official told reporters. “The reality is that the country is falling into economic, financial and technological isolation,” the official said. “And at this rate, it will return to Soviet living standards from the 1980s.” Also Wednesday, the US Department of Justice accused Russian oligarch Konstantin Malofeyev of violating sanctions imposed on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine. Attorney General Merrick Garland said authorities had also cut off a type of global malware known as a “botnet” controlled by a Russian military intelligence service. read more Seeking to further increase pressure on Putin, the United States is also imposing full sanctions on what the White House called “critical major Russian state-owned enterprises” that it said would harm the Kremlin’s ability to fund its war effort. The US Treasury Department will name the entities on Thursday, the White House said in a statement. The US government has taken action amid growing accusations of war crimes from Russia to Ukraine. The grim images of Bouha include a mass grave and corpses of people shot at close range, prompting calls for tougher action against Moscow and an international inquiry. read more US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said on Tuesday that the killings were part of a deliberate Russian campaign to commit atrocities. Neither Blinken nor Russia provided evidence to support the allegations. A senior French official said the European Union was likely to impose new sanctions on Wednesday. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Report by Matt Spetalnick, Alex Alper, Nandita Bose. editing by Heather Timmons, Howard Goller, Mark Porter and Jonathan Oatis Our role models: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
