Moscow/Washington, March 11, (dpa/GNA) – The United States launched a fresh salvo of sanctions against Russia on Friday, which include an import ban on Russian seafood and spirits and the downgrading of its trade status.
The latest measures come on top of sweeping economic sanctions recently imposed, and were coordinated with Washington’s G7 allies, the White House said.
The world’s leading industrial democracies were also working to deny Moscow borrowing privileges at the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, the statement from Washington said.
Britain on Friday sanctioned 386 members of Russia’s parliament for their support for Ukrainian breakaway regions and the European Union said it was preparing a fourth round of punitive measures.
The moves come just over two weeks after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine, where the fighting shows no sign of ending and Russian forces continue to advance on key cities.
“We already know Putin’s war against Ukraine will never be a victory,” said US President Joe Biden. “We will not let autocrats and would-be emperors dictate the direction of the world.”
Biden said he had once again offered Ukraine Washington’s full support when he spoke with President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday.
Apart from the grave human toll, the Russian invasion has already caused $119 billion in damages, Ukrainian Deputy Economy Minister Denys Kudin said.
Speaking to the Ukrinform news agency, Kudin said the figure is climbing every day, noting that it counts both direct damages and indirect ones, like loss of business.
The deputy mayor of the hard-hit port city of Mariupol said he didn’t have the words to express what the relentless Russian bombardment had done to his home.
“I don’t know how to describe the destruction in our city. The city doesn’t really exist anymore. The images of Grozny and of Aleppo – that’s what Mariupol looks like right now,” Serhiy Orlov told German public broadcaster ARD on Friday.
He said that the city had been cut off from all directions, thwarting the ability of some 200,000 people to flee even as no humanitarian aid was being allowed in.
Russian Major General Igor Konashenkov said, according to the Russian news agency Interfax, that the ring around Mariupol was being further tightened by troops arriving from the eastern region of Donetsk.
Rosemary Dicarlo, a UN representative for political affairs, spoke of “credible reports of Russian forces using cluster munitions, including in populated areas.”
These “indiscriminate attacks,” which strike military objectives as well as civilians “without distinction,” are prohibited under international humanitarian law, she said.
The UN is also aware of 26 attacks on health facilities in Ukraine in which 12 people died, including an attack on a clinic in Mariupol.
Putin added that more troops could be coming to the war zone, as he hinted that Russia could be accepting help from volunteers from the Middle East.
“As you see, there are people who want to come on a voluntary basis, especially not for money, and help the people who live in the Donbass – well, you have to meet them halfway and help them move into the combat zone,” Putin told a meeting of the National Security Council on Friday.
Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said that more than 16,000 people had already come forward from the Middle East alone to fight for the “liberation movement” of the self-proclaimed Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics.
Additionally, Russia requested a UN Security Council meeting to consider allegations that the United States is developing biological weapons in Ukraine, which Washington has dismissed as “absurd.”
The Russian Defence Ministry has documents confirming that there was a network of at least 30 biological laboratories on the territory of Ukraine, Russia’s Ambassador to the UN Vasily Nebensia said at the emergency meeting in New York on Friday.
These were used for dangerous “experiments” with pathogens of anthrax, tularemia, cholera and other deadly diseases, he claimed.
International fact-checkers have already debunked claims about a network of such laboratories in Ukraine. The UN has also repeatedly said it knows nothing about weapons of mass destruction allegedly produced in Ukraine.
US ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said Russia was “lying and spreading disinformation,” which the Kremlin could use as a possible pretext for the Russian use of weapons of mass destruction.
“Russia is attempting to use the Security Council to legitimize disinformation and deceive people to justify President Putin’s war of choice against the Ukrainian people,” she said.
Russia has slammed Western support for Ukraine and insisted it will be able to survive despite a rush of sanctions in the last two weeks, which have only been exacerbated by the decisions of multiple Western businesses to cease operations in Russia.
Russia’s economy could take another blow with Washington’s impending revocation of “most favoured nation” status, which would strip Russia of certain trade benefits.
And in addition to banning some imports, Washington said on Friday it will also stop the export of certain luxury goods that are purchased by Russian elites, including high-end watches, apparel, alcohol and luxury vehicles.
“The elites who sustain Putin’s war machine should no longer be able to reap the gains of this system and squander the resources of the Russian people,” the White House statement said.
GNA