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# 									Responding to Two Years of Russia’s Full-Scale War against Ukraine and Aleksey Navalny’s Death							

Press Statement

Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State

February 23, 2024

Tomorrow marks two years since Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine.  After ten years of conflict, sovereign, democratic Ukraine remains courageous in the face of formidable odds.  The United States will continue to stand resolutely with the Ukrainian people in their defense of their homeland.  Putin’s war threatens not only Ukraine, but also the security of the United States, our NATO Allies, and the free and open international order we depend on.  It is imperative that we defend the basic rules that have undergirded peace, security, and prosperity since the end of World War II, including sovereignty, territorial integrity, and the right of states to choose their own future.

The United States has built a coalition of 50 countries, including all NATO members and the G7 in defense of the freedom of a sovereign democratic nation.  Together, we will continue to impose costs on Putin’s Russia for its actions and ensure accountability for its crimes.

Today, the United States’ Departments of State, Treasury, and Commerce, in coordination with our allies and partners, are taking additional new measures to respond to Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, its global malign influence, and the death of Aleksey Navalny and its intensifying repression at home by sanctioning and imposing export control restrictions on more than 500 individuals and entities, our largest number of designations in a single Russia-related action.  There is a clear link between Russia’s authoritarianism, its crackdown on domestic dissent, and its aggression abroad.  We are imposing additional costs for Russia’s internal repression, the death of Aleksey Navalny, and the war against Ukraine.

Specifically, the Department of State is imposing sanctions on more than 250 entities and individuals to help deprive the Russian regime of the revenue and technology it needs to prosecute its war effort and engage in destabilizing activity around the world.  Our targets include those involved in the evasion of our economic restrictions against Russia and those responsible for bolstering Russia’s future energy, metals, and mining production among others.  The Department is also taking action to promote accountability for Russian human rights abusers by pursuing visa restrictions on five Kremlin-backed individuals in Ukraine for their connection to the deportation and confinement of Ukraine’s children.

The United States will use all available tools to hinder Russia’s ability to access the global financial system, disrupt Russia’s military-industrial-procurement, stand in solidarity with Russians striving for a more democratic future, and ensure Putin’s invasion remains a strategic failure for Russia.

*The Department of State and the Department of the Treasury sanctions actions were taken pursuant to**Executive Order 14024**“Blocking Property With Respect To Specified Harmful F**oreign Activities of t**he Government of the Russian Federation,” as amended by E.O. 14114; and E.O. 13224, “Blocking Property and Prohibiting Transactions With Persons Who Commit, Threaten To Commit, or Support Terrorism.”  Additional actions are pursuant to a visa restriction policy under Section 212(a)(3)(C) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which authorizes the Secretary of State to restrict visa issuance to**Russian Federation military officials and Russia-backed or Russia-installed purported authorities who are believed to have been involved in human rights abuses, violations of international humanitarian law, or public corruption in Ukraine.  For more inf**ormation on today’s actions, please see the Department of State’s**fact sheet**, the Department of the Treasury’s**press release**, and the Department of Commerce’s**press release**.*

 

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Bureau of European and Eurasian AffairsBureau of International Security and NonproliferationEconomic AffairsEnergyHuman RightsOffice of the SpokespersonRussiaSanctionsSecretary TripThe Secretary of StateTechnologyUkraineVisas

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