U.S., Allies To Impose More Sanctions On Russian Firms, Officials On Wednesday – Reuters

WASHINGTON, April 5 (Reuters) – The United States and its allies will impose a new round of sweeping Russia-related sanctions on Wednesday, a source familiar with the planned announcement told Reuters.

The sanctions will ban all new investments in Russia, increase curbs on financial institutions and state-owned enterprises in Russia, and target Russian government officials and their families, the source said on Tuesday.

“Tomorrow, the U.S. will announce, in coordination with the G7 and EU, an additional sweeping package of sanctions measures that will impose significant costs on Russia and send it further down the road of economic, financial, and technological isolation,” the source said.

The measures to be imposed Wednesday will “degrade key instruments of Russian state power, impose acute and immediate economic harm on Russia, and hold accountable the Russian kleptocracy that funds and supports Putin’s war,” the source said.

The actions being teed up will be taken in “lockstep” with other Group of Seven advanced economies and the European Union, the source said, demonstrating the West’s resolve and unity in imposing unprecedented costs on Russia for its war against Ukraine.

The war and Western sanctions imposed in response are hitting the Russian economy, with experts forecasting a contraction of as much as 15%.

Russia says it launched a “special military operation” in Ukraine on Feb. 24 to demilitarize and “denazify” a country that President Vladimir Putin regards as an illegitimate state. The Kremlin’s position is rejected by Ukraine, a parliamentary democracy, and the West as a pretext for an unprovoked invasion.

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Reporting by Andrea Shalal; writing by Susan Heavey; editing by Alexandra Hudson

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