WASHINGTON, April 15 (Reuters) – The U.S. Treasury sanctioned 32 Russian individuals and companies involved in a global network of disinformation, sanctioned entities and individuals for violating Ukraine’s sovereignty, and issued new rules for U.S. banks.
RUSSIAN CURRENCY AND DEBT
U.S. financial institutions are prohibited from trading the rouble, or bonds issued after June 14, 2021 in any currency by Russia’s Central Bank, finance ministry or national wealth fund.
RUSSIAN TECHNOLOGY COMPANIES
Treasury sanctioned six Russia technology companies that support Russia’s intelligence services.
COMPANIES IN CRIMEA
Leonid Kronidovich Ryzhenkin, the CEO of Mostotrest, a Russian construction company that the Treasury said was involved in the construction of the Kerch Strait bridge, which the U.S. says violated Ukraine’s sovereignty.
The Berkakit-Tommot-Yakutsk Railway Line’s Construction Directorat, which constructed the railroad and Lenpromtransproyekt, which designed the bridge, are also sanctioned.
NewsFront, a Crimea-based “disinformation and propaganda outlet,” The Strategic Culture Foundation, an online journal, and InfoRos which Treasury says “calls itself a news agency,” but is run by Russian intelligence.
RUSSIAN OFFICIALS IN CRIMEA
Treasury named three Russian individuals and one Ukrainian-Russian it said were “critical to the Russian government’s malign efforts” within Ukrainian territory, all working as officials in the “so-called Republic of Crimea”:
Larisa Vitalievna Kulinich, the “so-called Minister of Property and Land Relations,” Pavel Leonidovich Karanda, the internal affairs minister, Leonid Mikhailiuk, head of Russian intelligence there, and Vladimir Nikolaevich Terentiev, head of the investigative committee.
RUSSIANS SPREADING DISINFORMATION
It named individuals who were responsible for spreading propaganda, including Yevgeniy Prigozhin, the financier of the Internet Research Agency, and Alexander Malkevich, the Foundation for National Values Protection.
Petr Byschkov, Yulia Afanasyeva, and Taras Pribyshin, who operate Association For Free Research And International Cooperation, which the Treasury says spreads disinformation through Africa, were also sanctioned.
PAKISTAN INDIVIDUALS AND COMPANY
The sanctions also target a Pakistan company, Second Eye Solution, which it says has assisted the IRA in concealing its identity, and owners and employees: Mohsin Raza, Mujtaba Raza, Syed Hasnain, Muhammad Hayat, Syed Raza, and Shahzad Ahmed
PRESIDENTIAL EXECUTIVE ORDER
Biden used an executive order to declare a national emergency because of the threat posed by “harmful activities” of the Russian government.
Biden’s executive order gives his administration broad authority to expand the sanctions at a later date to include more people or entities involved in election interference, targeting dissidents or journalists or violating another country’s territorial integrity. (Reporting by Heather Timmons Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
