Nuland unveils plans for 'crushing' round of sanctions against Russia

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
22 Feb 2024 23:47

Vitoria Nuland said the sanctions will target company networks and banks in multiple countries that aid Moscow in circumventing existing sanctions.

Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland speaks during a hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations to examine US-Russia policy, on Capitol Hill, Dec. 7, 2021, in Washington (AP)

During a Center for Strategic and International Studies event on Thursday, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland announced that the US is preparing a new round of fresh sanctions against Russia, which, as per her words, promises to be "crushing".

"We will have a crushing new package of sanctions, hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of them in the next couple of days," Nuland said.

The US official noted that the sanctions will particularly focus on company networks and banks in various countries that aid Moscow in evading sanctions.

"When you see this package that we're going to launch in a couple of days, it is very heavily focused on evasion, on nodes and networks and countries that help evade willingly or otherwise, and on the banks that support and allow that kind of evasion and some of the inputs for the weapons," Nuland added.

The possibility exists that the sanctions could be linked to the recent death of Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny.

Despite the lack of evidence to support their claim, US Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken blamed Russia for being responsible for Navalny's death, noting that the US would consult allies regarding a potential response.

The fact that the US has announced a possible response following Navalny's death led many to believe that his death was possibly orchestrated by the West.

This development comes a day after a team of legal experts deemed that the confiscation of Russian assets is permissible under international law, citing Russia's ongoing special military operation in Ukraine.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) cautioned on Thursday that Western plans to seize frozen Russian assets could pose a threat to the global monetary system and entail unforeseen risks.

Approximately $300 billion in securities and cash have been frozen by the EU, G7 nations, and Australia, with the majority held in the EU.

While there was a belief that these funds should remain inaccessible to Russia unless it assists in Ukraine's reconstruction, there was disagreement over the legality of outright asset seizure.

They therefore sought guidance from a team of ten international law experts and practitioners, who unanimously affirmed in a joint letter that the seizure of assets is entirely legal.

"We have concluded that it would be lawful, under international law, for States which have frozen Russian State assets to take additional countermeasures against Russia, given its ongoing breach of the most fundamental rules of international law, in the form of transfers of Russian State assets as compensation for the damage that has resulted directly from Russia’s unlawful conduct," the experts in the letter, which was obtained by Bloomberg on Wednesday.

The IMF warned on Thursday that such measures could pose a threat to the global monetary system and entail unforeseen risks.

It is worth noting that in February of last year, Nuland promised Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a Nobel Peace Prize if he succeeded in persuading Russian President Vladimir Putin to withdraw troops from Ukraine.

Netanyahu is currently engaged in conducting a genocidal campaign against the Palestinian population of the Gaza Strip.