The US has announced more than 500 new sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine and the death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
These include measures against Russia’s main card payment system, financial and military institutions, and officials involved in Navalny’s imprisonment.
The EU has also announced new sanctions on access to military technology.
The measures mark a week since Navalny suddenly died in an Arctic Circle jail.
US President Joe Biden, who met Navalny’s widow and daughter in San Francisco on Thursday, has said there can be “no doubt” the Russian president was to blame for his death.
The newly-announced US measures also include nearly 100 firms and individuals which will also face export restrictions.
Others target the state-owned operator of Mir, Russia’s main payment system, which has become more prominent since Visa and Mastercard suspended their services there.
Companies involved in powering Russia’s war effort, developing the country’s future energy production and its cooperation with Iran over drones will also be hit.
More than two dozen entities outside of Russia – including people in China, the UAE, Vietnam and Liechtenstein – have also been sanctioned, accused of being connected to businesses that send materials to Russia’s military.
The sanctions are unlikely to have an impact on Russia’s economy. It is already the most sanctioned country in the world, and there are very few key entities or sectors that are not already subject to US and European restrictions.
Russian banks and military-industrial enterprises have adapted and developed workarounds to evade existing sanctions.
In a statement, President Biden said the new sanctions would “ensure” Russian President Vladimir Putin “pays an even steeper price for his aggression abroad and repression at home”.
This latest package brings the number of entities sanctioned to over 4,000 and comes on the eve of the second anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
“Two years ago, he tried to wipe Ukraine off the map. If Putin does not pay the price for his death and destruction, he will keep going,” Biden said in the statement.
