WaPo | President Obama expanded sanctions against top aides and reputed
financial associates of Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday as
punishment for the annexation of Crimea, and laid the groundwork for
far broader measures against “key sectors of the Russian economy” if
Putin further escalates his actions in Ukraine.
The broad measures potentially include Russia’s financial services,
energy, mining, engineering and defense sectors, according to language
in what was Obama’s third executive order in two weeks. If implemented,
he acknowledged, they would not only significantly affect the Russian
economy, “they could also be disruptive to the global economy.”
But “Russia must know that further escalation will only isolate it further from the international community,” Obama said in a brief statement on the White House South Lawn.
For
now, the measures target Putin’s inner circle and stop well short of
the kind of sanctions that have crippled Iran’s economy. Those would be
triggered only by a wider military incursion, and Russian troops remain
massed on Ukraine’s eastern and southern borders. And although Putin has
said Russia has no further territorial designs on Ukraine, he has
proved indifferent to Western threats.
