The threat of sanctions is putting enough pressure on Russia for now, but new penalties may hit Moscow's arms trade partners abroad, the Trump administration says, adding there are more details in a classified report to Congress.However, though this list of individuals has 'blacklisted,' none have been sanctioned yet. Reuters reports
Monday was the date set for the administration to begin imposing sanctions under the Countering American Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA), adopted with overwhelming majorities in the House and Senate last July.
"Today, we have informed Congress that this legislation and its implementation are deterring Russian defense sales," State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said. Since the law was enacted "we estimate that foreign governments have abandoned planned or announced purchases of several billion dollars in Russian defense acquisitions," she added. [...]
The intent was to "name and shame" Russian oligarchs and send a message that "Putin's aggression in terms of Russian interference in our elections will be very costly to them," said Daniel Fried, a former assistant secretary of state who led the State Department Russia sanctions office, as quoted by USA Today.
Shortly before midnight (0500 GMT) on Monday, the Treasury Department released an unclassified "oligarchs" list, including 114 senior Russian political figures and 96 business people.
Those named on the list will not immediately face any immediate penalties like asset freezes or visa bans. But the law mandated that the U.S. Treasury and State Departments, and intelligence agencies, compile a list of political figures and business people close to Putin's government and network, for potential future sanctions.
The first part lists a total of 114 Russian political figures, including Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, head of the Presidential Administration Anton Vaino, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, and First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov, as well as all Russian ministers, including Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and other senior officials.
The list also includes top Russian businessmen Alisher Usmanov, Sergey Ivanov and Roman Abramovich.
According to the report, people featured in the list were selected on the basis of "individuals' official position in the case of senior political figures, or a net worth of $1 billion or more for oligarchs."
The document is part of a sanctions law signed by Trump in August, which targeted Russia in retaliation for alleged interference in the 2016 presidential election - a claim which still lacks any evidence.
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The report adds that it "does not create any other restrictions, prohibitions or limitations on dealing with such persons by either U.S. or foreign persons."
The report also has a "classified annex" that could include other people with a net worth below $1 billion, according to the US Treasury's document.
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