The West is set to press ahead with new sanctions against Russia, as the standoff between militia in the country’s east and the Ukrainian government forces continues. We have brought together a list of countries and major international sanctions imposed on Russia following Crimea’s reunification with the country and the outset of the Ukrainian crisis:
EU
• On March 6, the EU halted talks with Russia on easing visa regulations.
• On March 17 the EU Council introduced sanctions against 21 Russian and Crimean individuals, including ban on entrance and transit through the EU as well as freezing their economic assets kept in the EU zone, over the Crimean vote.
• On March 20, the EU cancelled the EU-Russia summit slated for June.
• The black list of Russian and Crimean citizens was updated by adding 12 more people to it, the head of Russian International Information Agency Rossiya Segodnya Dmitry Kiselev among them.
• On April 17 the European Parliament passed a resolution recommending to halt the construction of the South Stream pipeline.
• On July 31 officially barred Russia’s biggest state-run banks – Sberbank, VTB, Gazprombank, Vnesheconombank and Rosselkhozbank – from raising financing on western capital markets.
Individual countries:
United States
• On March 4 2014, the US froze investment and military cooperation with Russia, with bilateral meetings and conferences cancelled.
• On March 13 the US announced “test sales” of 5 million barrels of oil, similar in terms of sulfur content to the oil exported from Russia.
• On March 17 US President Barack Obama announced signing an executive order which put a number of Russian officials, namely MPs Elena Mizulina, Leonid Slutsky, Andrei Klishas, presidential aide Vladislav Surkov, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin etc. on a sanctions list by freezing their bank accounts, arresting their properties and banning them from obtaining entrance visas. For their part, Russian officials targeted by the Western sanctions denied they have assets abroad and called the West to impose even harsher sanctions against them.
• On March 20 the list was further extended with a number of other high-ranking officials, Rossiya bank, which was referred to as “the personal bank for senior officials of the Russian Federation”, and a number of Russian tycoons from President Putin’s inner circle: Gennady Timchenko, the Rotenberg brothers, Yury Kovalchuk. In response, Vladimir Putin opened an account with Rossiya bank to keep his salary on.
• On March 27 the US froze cooperation with Russia with regard to narcotics control.
• On March 28 licensing of defense items and services exported to Russia was halted.
• On March 30 Russia-US presidential commission stopped operating.
• April 3 saw the two parties end consultations in the missile defense sphere as well as halt space cooperation, except the ISS and a number of peaceful atom projects.
• On April 11 the US introduced sanctions with regard to seven representatives of the Crimean authorities and the company “Chernomorneftegaz”.
• On April 28 17 Russian companies and seven more Russian high-ranking officials got sanctioned. The individuals included in the US sanctions were: Russian Presidential Envoy to Crimea Oleg Belaventsev, Rostech CEO Sergei Chemezov, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak, Director of the Federal Protective Service of the Russian Federation Yevgeny Murov, Chairman of State Duma Committee on International Affairs Alexei Pushkov, Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin, and First Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office Vyacheslav Volodin.
• The US banned sale of high-tech goods to Russia, which were feared to step up the country’s military power.
• In July sanctions hit Russia’s economic sector, with such oil and gas giants as Rosneft and Novatek and state banks like Gazprombank, Vnesheconombank, Sberbank, and VTB coming on the penalty list. The US also imposed sanctions on a number of defense enterprises, most importantly, Kalashnikov Concern, NPO Bazalt and a range of rocket design bureaus.
• On July 25 the US refused to support the World Bank projects in Russia.
Canada
• Halted military cooperation with Russia.
• Imposed economic sanctions and travel bans against eight individuals, linked to the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk Republics.
• Introduced sanctions against open joint stock company bank Rossiya and updated the sanctions list with 14 more names.
• Sent away Russian embassy military attaché deputy.
• Though Chair of the Arctic Council, Canada refused to take part in its sessions in Moscow.
• Refused to launch the microsatellite M3MSat with a Russian rocket from Baikonur launch site.
• Extended the sanctions list by including 190 Russian companies, state-run Gazprombank, Vnesheconombank, Novatek, Kalashnikov Concern and Almaz-Antey among them. Canada condemned the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics and blacklisted their eight representatives.
• Withdrew support of the World Bank projects in Russia.
France
• Expressed determination to annul the agreement on military vessel, notably Mistral battleship construction for Russia, which was seen as a promising joint venture. According to the latest data, though, the previous agreements remain intact.
• Froze in major part the military cooperation with Russia, notably exchange of interstate visits and joint drills.
United Kingdom
• Froze military cooperation with Russia, halted military equipment deliveries to Russia and cancelled the already planned joint military drills.
• Refused to partake in the 14th ministerial meeting at the International Energy Forum in Moscow with regard to Russia’s stance on Ukraine.
• Excluded Russia from the list of countries that are allowed to purchase British aviation equipment and refused a visa to the Russian delegation that was to represent Russian at Farnborough Airshow.
• Froze all licenses on arms and arms components deliveries, as well as cancelled all high-level visits, visits of military experts and commanders, as well as investment and economic delegations. The UK froze the military ties with Russia completely and continuously called for the EU to ban the export of defense equipment to Moscow.
• Rejected support of the Russia-UK culture exchange year, all the British ministers and officials were withdrawn from Russia.
Japan
• Announced plans to freeze assets held in Japan by Russian individuals and groups supporting the separation of Crimea from Ukraine. The list has yet to be compiled.
• Announced plans to introduce restrictions on imports from Crimea. Earlier the Japanese authorities suspended talks on investments into new projects in Russia. For now, Japan imposed limited sanctions on Russia, including the halt of some bilateral talks and an entry visa ban on 23 individuals.
Germany
• Put on hold the Germany-Russia military contract worth €120 million.
• Halted military exports to Russia.
• Froze sales of satellite technologies priced at up to €700 million.
• Refused to partake in annual intergovernmental Russia-Germany consultations in the Petersburg Dialog framework.
A number of countries additionally banned broadcasts by Russian TV channels, namely Latvia, Ukraine, Moldova, citing Russia’s “biased approach” to Ukraine news coverage. Others (New Zealand, Switzerland) froze the build-up of a free trade zone with the Customs Union, comprising Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus, while Serbia put on hold the construction of the South Stream on its territory.
Private Enterprises
• German defense company Rheinmetall halted arms deliveries to Russia.
• On March 21 the international payment systems Visa and MasterCard blocked credit card services to the customers of some Russian banks, namely Rossiya bank, Sobinbank, Investcapitalbank and SMP Bank. Shortly afterwards Vladimir Putin signed into a law the creation of a national payment system to substitute European Visa and Mastercard.
• On April 3 McDonald’s froze operations of its fast food restaurants in Crimea.
The European sanctions saw two phases:
I. Before the downing of MH17 flight the west was reluctant to proceed with penalties on Russia due to their close interstate economic ties.
II. The rhetoric slightly changed following the downing of the Malaysian Boeing over Ukraine. After the July 28 joint teleconference between the US, Britain, France, Italy and Germany, the EU states notably agreed that the EU should move a “strong package of sectoral sanctions as swiftly as possible”.
