The US has sanctioned another 500 people and entities connected with Russia, including financial executives and prison officials. US President Joe Biden said that the restrictions will ensure that Russian President Vladimir Putin “pays an even steeper price for his aggression,” but the Kremlin has dismissed them as “fruitless.”
The sanctioned entities include the operator of Russia’s Mir payment card system, which soared in popularity after Russia was cut off from SWIFT and Visa/MasterCard in 2022. Russian energy firms and companies linked with the military-industrial sector made up the bulk of the 100 targeted entities, which were published in a US Treasury Department list on Friday.
Among the individuals sanctioned are Russian soldiers, figures involved in military procurement, and executives in the finance sector. More than two dozen of those named are based outside of Russia, including in China, the United Arab Emirates and Vietnam.
In a statement on Friday, US President Joe Biden said that the list would also include “individuals connected to [Alexey] Navalny’s imprisonment.”