WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Washington expanded sanctions against Russia in order to refresh the previously imposed ones and keep them strong, US State Department Deputy spokesperson Mark Toner told journalists.
“Today’s action, is not new sanctions, this is designed to strengthen existing sanctions, counter attempts to circumvent our sanctions, and further align US measures with those of our international partners obviously in Europe, and to provide additional information to assist the private sector with sanctions compliance,” Toner stated.
Earlier on Thursday, the US Treasury added new entities and individuals to the sanction’s list related to the conflict in eastern Ukraine, including Russian defense manufacturer Izhevsky Mekhanichesky Zavod, port operators in Crimea, banks and Rosneft’s subsidiaries.
“Without these maintenance actions, the impact of these [old] sanctions can erode over time. Sanction entities can find ways to work around restrictions. This is a fairly common practice with sanctions,” Toner stressed. “In order to keep them as strong as possible, we constantly need to freshen them and make sure that the gaps are filled.”
The spokesperson added that once the Minsk agreements are fully implemented, Washington “can talk about sanctions being rolled back.”
“No specific date or anniversary…It is unrelated to any other thing than the fact that we constantly look at this with the Treasury but also working in conjunction with sanctions people here at the State Department to look at ways we need to strengthen these sanctions,” he explained.
The United States, the European Union and their allies imposed several rounds of economic, financial and technological sanctions on Russia over alleged meddling in Ukraine’s internal affairs – a claim Moscow has repeatedly denied.
Crimea seceded from Ukraine in March 2014 after a referendum in which 96 percent of residents voted in favour of reunification with Russia.
