The White House in Washington DCWASHINGTON, Mar 21The United States is ready to expand sanctions on Russia over the situation around Ukraine to include more Russian banks and sectors of its economy, including oil and gas, said Deputy Assistant to the President of the United States for National Security Duleep Singh. «We can expand our sanctions, take (additional) measures, expand the sanctions that we have already applied by adding more defendants. Apply them to more sectors,» Singh said in an interview with CBS on Sunday. According to a White House spokesman, the expansion of sanctions will affect «more banks and sectors that have not been affected so far.» According to him, we are talking about «strategically important areas of the Russian economy.» «This mainly concerns oil and gas, but there are other sectors as well. I would not like to be specific, but I think President (of the Russian Federation Vladimir) Putin knows what in question,» added a high-ranking American official.Media: The EU is exploring the possibility of imposing an embargo on oil supplies from RussiaRussian President Vladimir Putin on February 21, in response to requests from the Donbass republics and after an appeal by State Duma deputies, signed decrees recognizing the sovereignty of the LNR and the DNR. Early on the morning of February 24, Russia launched a military special operation to demilitarize Ukraine. Putin called its goal «the protection of people who have been subjected to bullying and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years.» According to the Ministry of Defense, the Armed Forces strike only at military infrastructure and Ukrainian troops. new sanctions against Moscow. The main restrictions fall on the banking sector, including the Central Bank, as well as the supply of high-tech products. Dozens of the largest companies also left the Russian market. The European Union, the United States and other countries closed the skies for Russian airlines. In addition, the restrictions affected Belarus. The Kremlin called these measures an economic war, the likes of which have not yet been. At the same time, the authorities stressed that they were ready for such a development of events and would continue to fulfill social obligations. The Central Bank is taking measures to stabilize the situation in the foreign exchange market.
