The main focus will be on finance and technology.
The United States is working with allies and partners to quickly impose serious economic costs on Moscow through “sham” referendums held by Russia in occupied regions of Ukraine, the head of the US State Department's Sanctions Coordination Office said in prepared remarks on Wednesday.
James O'Brien in prepared testimony for the Senate foreign relations committee, said he expects the pace of the Biden administration's announcement of sanctions against Russia to continue, averaging every six weeks, as Washington continues to focus on bottlenecks in Russia's economy and its military supply chain.
“There will be more packages. We are working on new sanctions,” O'Brien told the committee.
“Everything is on the table,” he said, adding that Washington would focus on the financial sector and high technology, especially for energy exploitation and violators. of human rights, reports Reuters.
On Wednesday, Moscow published so-called vote counts showing support for joining Russia in four partially occupied regions, after which Kyiv and the West condemned the illegal sham referenda >, carried out under the gun.
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The United States introduced several tranches of sanctions against Moscow after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February, which left cities in ruins and thousands of people killed or injured.
But senators have demanded U.S. sanctions against Russia's energy sector from O'Brien and Elizabeth Rosenberg, Treasury's assistant secretary for countering the financing of terrorism and financial crimes.
Washington and its G7 partners have said they will set the upper cap on Russian oil prices, but refrain from directly attacking major Russian energy companies due to concerns about energy prices and supply.
“The biggest source of hard currency that Russia has right now is energy sales,” — said Rosenberg.
“We have to focus our attention specifically on energy to deprive Russia of these revenues.”
O'Brien warned that it was time for India, which was buying large volumes of Russian oil more than before the February 24 invasion, to reconsider its geopolitical positioning.
While India's purchases were at a discount, large volumes helped the economy of Moscow. The United States and other G7 nations hope India will join a plan to cap Russian oil prices by December to further cut Moscow's oil export revenues, which help fund its war machine.
O'Brien also said Washington would continue to work with China to make sure it understands the US sanctions and their impact on China's engagement with Russia.
As Western countries shun Russia, they emphasize cooperation with China. The two countries increased their trade and Russian companies started issuing debt obligations in yuan.
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As reported, the European Commission today presented the eighth package of sanctions against Russia, which will affect more than 1,300 peopleand organizations.
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