1/ The U.S. imposed new sanctions on Russia’s largest financial institution, its largest private lender, and Putin’s adult children, as well as Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s wife and daughter, and members of Russia’s Security Council, including former President and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and current Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin. Biden condemned the atrocities taking place in Ukraine as “major war crimes” and called on “responsible nations” to come together to hold Russia accountable, adding that he would be signing an executive order to ban all new U.S. investment in Russia. The sanctions against two of Russia’s largest banks, Sberbank and Alfa Bank, freeze all assets from going through the U.S. financial system and bar Americans from doing business with those two institutions. Sberbank holds nearly one-third of all the assets in Russian banks, while Alfa Bank is Russia’s largest private lender. “Our partners are outraged by the atrocities that are being committed in Russia, as we are,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said. “And we are working very actively with them to impose new sanctions that will cause Russia significant pain.” (Associated Press / Politico / Washington Post / CNN / CBS News / Bloomberg / New York Times / CNBC / ABC News)
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2022/04/06/day-442/