U.S. targets Russia's central bank in latest sanctions action

[February 28, 2022]  WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The United States on Monday blocked Americans from engaging in any transactions involving Russia's central bank, National Wealth Fund and finance ministry in further punishment of Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.

The fierce economic sanctions imposed by the United States and its allies on Russia's central bank and other key sources of wealth are likely to drive Russian inflation higher, cripple its purchasing power and drive down investments, U.S. officials said on Monday as new sanctions took effect.

"This is a vicious feedback loop that's triggered by Putin's own choices and accelerated by his own aggression," a senior U.S. administration official said.

The move comes after the United States and its allies last week imposed several rounds of sanctions targeting Moscow, including against Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russia's largest lenders, after the country's forces invaded Ukraine in the biggest attack by one state against another in Europe since World War Two.

Monday's action "immobilizes" any assets Russia's central bank held in the United States in a move that a second senior U.S. official said will hinder Russia's ability to access hundreds of billions of dollars in assets.

The U.S. Treasury Department in a statement on Monday said it had also slapped sanctions on a key Russian sovereign wealth fund, the Russian Direct Investment Fund.

(Reporting by Daphne Psaledakis, Steve Holland, Andrea Shalal and Susan Heavey; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)

 

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