The U.S. Treasury Department on Thursday added top Russian tax officials, a neo-Nazi militant group and a child rights official allegedly ordering the deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia to its sanctions blacklist.
Some 22 people and two entities were blacklisted by the Ministry of Finance, including judicial officials in occupied Crimea and members of the family of Chechen Republic leader Ramzan Kadyrov.
In parallel, the Treasury Department and the US Department of Commerce banned the export of quantum computing services, hardware and software to Russia and Belarus. The Treasury said it would affect Moscow’s ability to rebuild its military after heavy casualties in the ongoing war with Ukraine.
“As Ukraine presses ahead with defending its freedom, today we are taking steps to further hamper Russia’s ability to rebuild its military, hold violent criminals to account, and further financially isolate Putin (Russian President Vladimir),” the Finance Minister said Janet Yellen a statement.
The new sanctions targeted the heads of major Russian financial institutions, including NSPK, which operates the Mir payment card network; the National Settlement Depository; CCP NCC, which manages settlement for the Moscow Stock Exchange; and the deposit insurance company.
The Ministry of Finance has blacklisted Maria Alexeyevna Lvova-Belova, the Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights.
Lvova-Belova works directly under Putin, the Treasury Ministry said, and has overseen the deportation of “thousands” of Ukrainian children to Russia.
“Lvova-Belova’s efforts include notably the forced adoption of Ukrainian children into Russian families, the so-called ‘patriotic upbringing’ of Ukrainian children, changes in the law to expedite the granting of citizenship of the Russian Federation to Ukrainian children, and the deliberate removal of Ukrainian children by Russian forces.” , it was said.
The Treasury also imposed sanctions on Task Force Rusich, a neo-Nazi paramilitary group fighting in Ukraine and linked to the Wagner mercenary army controlled by a close Putin aide, Yevgeny Prigozhin.
The US Treasury Department’s sanctions aim to freeze any assets the Designated Persons may have under US jurisdiction and prohibit US persons or companies – including international banks with US operations – from doing business with them, thereby their access to global financial networks is effectively restricted.
