POLITIK
US Sanktionen für Russland (1)
April 15, 2021 -
Die Biden Administration wird mit den lang-erwarteten Massnahmen gegen Russland beginnen. Dazu gehören weitreichende finanzielle Sanktionen und Sanktionen betreffend die Störung der Wahl von 2020 und Hackerangriffe auf US Netzwerke.
Aides to President Biden say the sanctions are “seen and unseen” steps in response to the hacking, known as SolarWinds. Among measures, the U.S. will expel 10 Russian diplomats plus intelligence officials following the CIA’s assessment that Russia offered to pay bounties to Taliban militants in Afghanistan to kill American troops.
Retaliatory measures will also target the country’s sovereign debt, according to the Wall Street Journal. The move aims to restrict Russia’s ability to raise dollar-denominated government bonds by banning foreign lenders from American financial markets from June 14. Russia uses government bonds to finance its budget deficit.
The U.S. banned American investors from buying new dollar-denominated Russian debt in 2014 after the Kremlin annexed Ukraine’s Crimea Peninsula. Insiders suggest that President Biden will add rouble-denominated debt to that list. Foreign pension funds and asset managers hold around $42 billion of rouble-denominated debt.
Russia’s foreign intelligence service, the SVR, will be formally accused of carrying out the so-called SolarWinds hack of U.S. government and corporate computer systems. The Kremlin will face unseen measures -- expanded cyber operations against the SVR. Other cyber options include revealing or freezing hidden assets held by Putin or exposing his links to oligarchs.
In March, the Biden administration imposed sanctions on seven senior members of the Russian government for poisoning Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny.
- Biden Administration to Impose Tough Sanctions on Russia (New York Times)
- U.S. to Sanction Russia, Expel Diplomats Over Alleged Election Interference, Hacking (Wall Street Journal)
- All About the U.S. Sanctions Aimed at Putin’s Russia (Bloomberg)
- Foreigners' share in Russia's government bonds nears five-year low as sanction fears increase (Reuters)