The United States has added 21 individuals, including Russian deputy Energy Minister Evgeniy Cherezov, and nine entities to its list of Specially Designated Nationals, and another 12 entities to the Sectoral Sanctions Identifications List, the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control said in a press release on Friday.
All the sanctioned persons and companies are connected with Russia or Ukraine, comprising those responsible for supplying gas turbines to Crimea, emphasizing Washington's refusal to recognize the region's reunification with Russia.
The press-release specified that the decision to expand sanctions was taken after a similar move by the European Union.
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As the statement explains, the US will continue to put pressure on Moscow over the situation in Ukraine until all the Minsk agreements are implemented.
Newly imposed sanctions by the United States over the situation in Ukraine target Gaz-Alyans, Technopromexport, Power Machines, Vneshtorgservis and Kaliningradnefteprodukt, among others.
Some of the other companies that the US designated are Ugolnye Tekhnologii, Instar Lodzhistiks, Evro Polis and Surgutmebel, among others, OFAC said.
The strained US-Russia relationship is expected to be under the spotlight at the ongoing World Economic Forum, taking place at the Swiss Alpine resort town of Davos this week, with the official Russian residence at Davos hosting a meeting devoted to the issue with the support of the US-Russia Business Council.
Commenting on the anti-Moscow sanctions prior to the meeting, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich, who heads the Russian delegation at Davos, stated that this issue wasn't "the most interesting thing in the world", thus the delegation shouldn't waste much time discussing it, focusing on "working better and more efficiently".
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Washington has introduced several rounds of sanctions against Russian businessmen, politicians, enterprises, and economic sectors over the Ukranian crisis, including Crimea's reunification with Russia after the February 2014 Maidan coup.
