29.03.2024

Ukraine to Replicate U.S. Sanctions on Russian Individuals

In April, the United States imposed major sanctions against 24 Russians, including aluminum tycoon Deripaska – one of Washington’s most aggressive moves to punish Moscow for its alleged meddling in the 2016 U.S. election and other “malign activity.”

Ukraine has decided to expand sanctions on Russian companies and entities to mirror those of the United States, which has blacklisted tycoons and allies of Russia’s Vladimir Putin, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said on Wednesday.

Kiev has also extended existing sanctions it introduced against hundreds of Russian companies and entities in response to the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and Kremlin support for a pro-Russian separatist uprising in eastern Ukraine.

“With today’s decision, we have coordinated new sanctions… with those that have been introduced by the United States against citizens and legal entities of the Russian Federation,” Poroshenko said in a statement after a meeting of the country’s Security and Defense Council.

He did not say which individuals were on the latest list or when the sanctions would come into force, but he has previously said Ukraine would sanction Russian oligarchs including Oleg Deripaska.

It is not clear what effect the new Ukrainian sanctions will have as many Russian companies have already sought to wind up their Ukraine-linked activities due to earlier sanctions.

If Deripaska is on the new list it could impact the operations of the Mykolaiv plant in Ukraine, which is the second-largest alumina asset of Deripaska’s Rusal.

The Mykolaiv plant has previously declined to comment on the impact of possible sanctions on Deripaska.

The security and defense council said the new sanctions would be in force for at least three years and included penalties on Russian lawmakers and top officials.

Russia and Japan Warn U.S. of $1Bln Tariff Retaliation

Russia and Japan have warned they could retaliate against U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum by imposing sanctions worth almost $1 billion combined, filings published by the World Trade Organization showed on Tuesday.

The documents from Russia and Japan, following similar filings last week by the European Union and China, notified the United States of the cost of its tariff plan, based on 2017 exports.

Russia said the U.S. plan would add duties of $538 million to its annual exports and Japan put the sum at $440 million, and both said they had the right to impose equal costs on U.S. exports. Neither named the U.S. products that they might target.

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