The US Department of Commerce has expanded its list of entities embargoed because of Russia's involvement in the conflict in Ukraine. Another twenty-nine persons were included in the list, according to a notice due to be published in the Federal Register on September 2.
The step is intended to "ensure the efficacy of existing sanctions on the Russian Federation", according to the Department of Commerce. The affected persons are located in Ukraine, Russia, including the Crimea region annexed from Ukraine in March 2014, Cyprus, Finland, Romania, Switzerland and Britain.
Beginning in March last year and implemented in stages, the US and EU imposed an array of sanctions on Russian individuals and businesses over the seizure of Crimea and the fighting in East Ukraine, which Washington and Brussels say is being stoked by Russia.
The sanctions regime was stepped up following the deaths of 298 people on board a Malaysia Airlines plane destroyed over the Ukarianina conflict zone in July 2014. The EU and US measures targeted key sectors of the Russian economy like banking and high technology, including in the oil and gas industry, which are crucial to the Russian economy and are closely connected to the ruling elite.
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