US in alignment with G7 announces ban

Washington: The United States is introducing a ban on any new investment in Russia in coordination with the Group of Seven (G7) nations, a senior Biden administration official said. “Today, in alignment with the G7 in the EU, we’re announcing a ban on new investment in Russia, which President Biden will implement with an executive order and this will ensure the mass exodus from Russia that we’re seeing from the private sector, which is now over 600 multinational companies,” the official said on Wednesday. The White House said in a release that President Joe Biden issued an executive order prohibiting Americans from making new investments in Russia or providing certain services to any person located in Russia. The order will not apply to any contracts that were agreed to before April 6, the release said. Moreover, employees, grantees, or contractors with the US government or United Nations will be exempt from the ban in order to conduct official business, the release added. Biden’s directive also prohibits any transactions designed to circumvent the restrictions in his order. Earlier on Wednesday, the Biden administration announced a new wave of anti-Russia sanctions in response to Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine. The new restrictive measures include full blocking sanctions against Sberbank and Alfa-Bank, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s two daughters, and major state-owned enterprises. On February 24, Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine after the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk requested help to defend them from attacks by Ukrainian troops. The Russian Ministry of Defense said the operation is solely targeting Ukrainian military infrastructure and the civilian population is not in danger.