MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Earlier on Tuesday, the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control named 34 individuals and entities under Ukraine-related sanctions that target a number of subsidiaries of Russia's VTB Bank, Sberbank, and Rostec, as well as Kalashnikov Concern and Izhevsky Mekhanichesky Zavod. The sanctioned individuals include Gennady Timchenko, Arkady Rotenberg, and Boris Rotenberg.
"To maintain the efficacy of our measures, we occasionally need to update our lists to protect the integrity of our sanctions. We do not view today’s actions as an escalation. It is a routine step to strengthen implementation of existing measures," Embassy spokesperson William Stevens told RIA Novosti.
"Moreover, today’s actions also designate a number of individuals and entities that had been listed by the EU. We have taken this action to further harmonize our respective lists," Stevens added.
