The Biden administration has imposed full blocking sanctions on 22 Russian defense entities, including those that produce combat aircraft, missiles, infantry fighting vehicles, unmanned aerial vehicles and electronic warfare systems, as part of additional economic measures in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The Department of Commerce will implement restrictions on technology exports that support Russia’s oil refining capacity and extend to Belarus export control restrictions that were imposed on Russia to “degrade both countries’ ability to sustain their military aggression and project power,” according to a White House fact sheet published Wednesday.
Other measures are adding to the entity list organizations that have contributed to the military, defense and security sectors of Russia and Belarus and closing off U.S. airspace to all Russian flights as part of efforts to further isolate and put additional economic costs on Russia.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. offered $350 million in military aid to Ukraine to help the latter counter airborne, armored and other threats as a result of Russia’s invasion.
“That brings our total security assistance to Ukraine in the past year to more than $1 billion – more than in any previous year,” Blinken, a 2022 Wash100 Award winner, said in his remarks Wednesday.
On Monday, the Department of the Treasury prohibited U.S. citizens from conducting transactions involving Russia’s central bank, national wealth fund and finance ministry as part of additional economic sanctions on Russia’s financial institutions.