WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The United States is imposing additional sanctions on Russia and also targeting Belarus in response to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, the White House said on Wednesday.
“The United States will take actions to hold Belarus accountable for enabling Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, weaken the Russian defense sector and its military power for years to come, target Russia’s most important sources of wealth, and ban Russian airlines from U.S. airspace,” the White House said.
The Commerce Department imposed on Belarus the stringent export controls made effective on Russia on Feb. 24 “in response to Belarus’ substantial enabling of Russia’s further invasion of Ukraine.”
It said the controls would help prevent the diversion of items, including technology and software, in the defense, aerospace, and maritime sectors to Russia through Belarus.
The United States has steadily increased sanctions on Moscow after Putin began the invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24. Belarus has allowed Russian troops to use its territory as a staging ground for the assault.
Russia’s invasion has yet to achieve its aim of overthrowing Ukraine’s government but has sent more than 870,000 people fleeing to neighboring countries and jolted the global economy as governments and companies line up to isolate Moscow.
(Reporting by Doina Chiacu and Katharine Jackson; Editing by Chris Reese and Grant McCool)
