09.05.2022.

U.S. and G7 partners announced new sanctions against Russia relating to financial services, media, and defense industry

The White House and G7 partners announced new sanctions against Russia, which will affect Russia's largest TV channels, industrial sector, and ban U.S citizens from providing financial services to Russians.

The most popular pro-Kremlin television stations Channel One Russia, Russia-1, and NTV are sanctioned. The United States is banning advertising and providing equipment to channels. In 2021 alone, these three channels received more than $300 billion in advertising revenue from Western countries just last year, says CNN.

The U.S. also prohibits its citizens from providing Russians with financial services (accounting, trust, corporate formation, and management consulting services), which are "are key to Russian companies and elites building wealth, thereby generating revenue for Putin's war machine."

In addition, Washington is imposing additional restrictions on Russia's industrial sector: a wide range of raw materials and products, including wood products, engines, boilers, fans, bulldozers, and a number of other industrial goods.

The sanctions also affected Russia's Promtekhnologiya, which produces rifles and other weapons used in military operations in Ukraine, seven shipping companies, and one marine towing company. In addition, Washington is suspending permits to export a number of nuclear materials to Russia.

In total, the U.S is imposing sanctions on eight leaders of Russia's Sberbank, 27 leaders of Gazprombank, Moscow Industrial Bank, and 10 of its subsidiaries. The White House said it had also imposed about 2,600 visa restrictions on Russian and Belarusian government and military officials.

The U.S also reaffirms the G7's intention to phase out or ban the Russian oil imports and is committed to ensuring the stability of the global energy market.

New EU sanctions against Russia

Currently, European diplomats are holding tough talks on a new, sixth package of sanctions against Russia. It considers the phasing out of Russian oil. But according to media reports, the idea of ​​an oil embargo is opposed by Hungary and Slovakia. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán compared the oil sanctions to an "atomic bomb" for the Hungarian economy.

Bloomberg reported that a meeting of the EU's 27 ambassadors on May 8 didn't reach an agreement on a new package of sanctions. Hungary continues to block the EU's proposal for a gradual ban on Russian oil imports, delaying the approval of the whole package. Negotiations are expected to resume in the coming days.