Obama announces new sanctions on Russia

WASHINGTON, July 29 (KUNA) -- US President Barack Obama said Tuesday that since the downing of the Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17, "Russia and its proxies in Ukraine have failed to cooperate with the investigation and to take the opportunity to pursue a diplomatic solution to the conflict in Ukraine." "These Russian-backed separatists have continued to interfere in the crash investigation and to tamper with the evidence," Obama stressed.
"They have continued to shoot down Ukrainian aircraft in the region. And because of their actions, scores of Ukrainian civilians continue to die needlessly every day.
"Russia continues to support the separatists and encourage them and train them and arm them," he said, noting that "satellite images, along with information we've declassified in recent days, show that forces inside Russia have launched artillery strikes into Ukraine; another major violation of Ukraine's sovereignty." He continued "and we have information that Russia continues to build up its own forces near the Ukrainian border and that more Russian military equipment, including artillery, armored vehicles and air defense equipment, have been transferred across the border to these separatists." Meanwhile, Obama announced that the U.S. is imposing new sanctions in key sectors of the Russian economy: energy, arms, and finance.
"We're blocking the exports of specific goods and technologies to the Russian energy sector, we're expanding our sanctions to more Russian banks and defense companies, and we're formally suspending credit that encourages exports to Russia and financing for economic development projects in Russia," he said.
He added "at the same time, the European Union is joining us in imposing major sanctions on Russia; its most significant and wide-ranging sanctions to date." He indicted "in the financial sector, the EU is cutting off certain financing to state-owned banks in Russia. In the energy sector, the EU will stop exporting specific goods and technologies to Russia, which will make it more difficult for Russia to develop its oil resources over the long term. In the defense sector, the EU is prohibiting new arms imports and exports, and it's halting the export of sensitive technology to Russia's military users." "And because we're closely coordinating our actions with Europe, the sanctions we're announcing today will have an even bigger bite," he stressed.
"Now, Russia's actions in Ukraine and the sanctions that we've already imposed have made a weak Russian economy even weaker," he remarked.
He stressed "the major sanctions we're announcing today will continue to ratchet up the pressure on Russia, including the cronies and companies that are supporting Russia's illegal actions in Ukraine." "In other words, today Russia is once again isolating itself from the international community, setting back decades of genuine progress. And it doesn't have to come to this. It didn't have to come to this. It does not have to be this way. This is a choice that Russia, and President Putin in particular, has made," he remarked.
He affirmed "there continues to be a better choice, the choice of de-escalation, the choice of joining the world in a diplomatic solution to the situation, a choice in which Russia recognizes that it can be a good neighbor and trading partner with Ukraine, even as Ukraine is also developing ties with Europe and other parts of the world," and that he will "continue to engage President Putin as well as President Poroshenko and our European partners in pursuit of such a diplomatic solution." Meanwhile, Obama affirmed that this is "not a new cold war," what it is "is a very specific issue related to Russia's unwillingness to recognize that Ukraine can chart its own path." (end) si.gb