US asserts it intends to impose economic sanctions on Russian supply chain companies

The United States' Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo on Tuesday stated that the subsequent round of economic sanctions against Russia will focus on supply networks, which would hit yet another sector of the country's economy. In the wake of Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, the United States and its allies imposed a barrage of sanctions on the country, including those targeting Russian leaders and billionaires, as well as significant Russian banks.

The US hopes to damage "the Kremlin's ability to operate its war machine" by broadening the scope of its sanctions, according to Adeyemo, who spoke to a London think tank audience. The sanctions, according to Adeyemo, will also target Russia's alternative military suppliers.

"In addition to sanctioning companies in sectors that enable the Kremlin's malign activities, we also plan to take actions to disrupt their critical supply chains. Our goal is to use an integrated approach that includes export controls which will bite over time and sanctions that will bite immediately," he said. 

Putin had ordered troops to Ukraine as part of a "special military operation" intended at demilitarising and "denazifying" the country. Ever since the onset of the invasion on February 24, US and western allies have frozen the foreign currency assets of Russia's central bank, restricted key Russian banks and wealthy individuals from interacting in hard currency, and imposed export restrictions on advanced semiconductors and other technologies.

Notably, the Kremlin's financial resources have been exhausted, and Russia's economy has suffered as a result of the sanctions. According to Adeyemo, they would stay put as long as the invasion continued. He credited the sanctions' success to a strong multilateral effort and the strength of an international economic and financial structure formed by democratic countries at the end of WWII, which included the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the precursor to the World Trade Organization.

Russia Ukraine war

Alexander Fomin, Russia's deputy defence minister, stated on Tuesday that following the conclusion of peace negotiations between Russian and Ukrainian negotiating delegates in Istanbul, Russia has decided to drastically restrict its military action in Ukraine, focusing on Kyiv and Chernihiv.

"In order to increase mutual trust and create the necessary conditions for further negotiations and achieving the ultimate goal of agreeing and signing (an) agreement, a decision was made to radically, by a large margin, reduce military activity in the Kyiv and Chernihiv directions," Alexander Fomin told reporters on March 29.