WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden announced new sanctions on more than a dozen Russian oligarchs and their families, as pressure continued to build on Capitol Hill for an even tougher response to Moscow a week after it invaded Ukraine, particularly a ban on imports of Russian oil and gas.
The White House imposed sanctions on 19 wealthy Russian individuals and 47 of their family members and close associates, including President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, Dmitri Peskov, and Alisher Usmanov, one of the wealthiest men in Russia.
Unwilling to engage Russia’s military directly, the United States and Europe have also increased their shipments of weapons and defense materiel to Ukraine in recent days, as live television coverage of Russia’s unprovoked aggression and social media posts from Ukraine have galvanized the West. Meanwhile, both the U.S. and European leaders continue to ratchet up the economic pressure on the elites in Putin’s inner circle in an effort to bring an end to his merciless assault on Ukraine.
