By Daphne Psaledakis and Timothy Gardner
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States is working with allies to quickly impose severe economic costs on Moscow over “fake” referendums held by Russia in occupied Ukraine, according to a statement by the U.S. State Department’s head of sanctions coordination. this Wednesday.
James O’Brien, in prepared testimony for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he expected the Biden administration’s pace of announcing sanctions, on average every six weeks, to continue, with Washington focusing on bottlenecks in the Russian economy and the military supply chain.
“There will be more packages. We are working on more sanctions,” O’Brien said. “It’s all on the table,” he said, adding that Washington will look to the financial and high-tech sector, especially energy exploration.
Moscow is on the verge of annexing a banner from Ukraine, releasing what it called vote counts showing support in four partially occupied provinces for joining Russia, after what Kiev and the West denounce as illegal fake referendums held at gunpoint. .
Russian-backed officials claim to have held the referendums over five days in territory that represents about 15% of Ukraine.
The US imposed several rounds of sanctions on Moscow after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February, which reduced cities to rubble and killed or injured thousands.
Washington and its G7 partners have said they will put a cap on the price of Russian oil, but have refrained from directly attacking major Russian energy companies due to concerns about energy prices and supply.
O’Brien also said Washington will continue to work with China to ensure it understands US sanctions and the effect they have on China’s engagement with Russia.
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