by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) – Less than a week after imposing the broadest package of sanctions on Russia it had ever imposed, the US Biden administration on Wednesday added hundreds of fresh sanctions to intensify pressure on Moscow and assist Ukraine in defending against the ongoing Russian invasion, Reuters reports.
The US State and Treasury departments imposed sanctions on over 250 Russian entities, including banks and energy companies, and including some based in China, Reuters reports.
Among the targeted banks is Keremet Bank, a Kyrgyzstan-based financial institution that the Biden administration believes is working with Russian officials to bypass US sanctions.
The US State Department also imposed sanctions on Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Reuters reports.
The new sanctions are being imposed by presidential executive order that will require Congress to be notified before they can be lifted. This will make it harder for President-elect Donald Trump to lift them should the incoming administration want to, Jeremy Paner, a partner at the law firm Hughes Hubbard & Reed, told Reuters. “You can’t just with the stroke of a pen remove what’s being done,” Paner said.
Calling the Wednesday’s move a “significant action,” Edward Fishman, a former U.S. official and Columbia University research scholar, told Reuters; “It gives the new Trump administration more leverage with Russia.”
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