How the United States is Holding Russia and Belarus to Account
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Last updated: May 19, 2022
“President Putin may have assumed that the United States and our allies were bluffing when we warned of massive, unprecedented consequences.
Antony J. Blinken
But – as President Biden likes to say – big nations can’t bluff.
The United States doesn’t bluff.
And President Putin has gravely miscalculated.”
Secretary of State
The United States, along with its allies and partners, works to ensure the Russian Federation and the Lukashenka regime in Belarus pay a severe economic and diplomatic price for Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.
With our allies and partners, we have taken these actions:
- Applied powerful sanctions on Russia’s largest financial institutions and its sovereign wealth fund.
- Made it difficult for Russia to find funding for its war beyond its borders.
- Choked off Russian imports of key technologies.
- Targeted the financial networks and assets of Russian and Belarusian elites, including President Putin and members of his security council.
There is nowhere for individuals or entities who support the unprovoked war to hide. We already see the effects of these actions, as the Russian and Belarusian economies stumble. With our allies and partners, we will continue to take strong economic and diplomatic actions.
We are also working with partners, including the Ukrainian authorities and international institutions, to pursue justice and accountability for war crimes and other atrocities committed in Ukraine. We will use every tool available to promote accountability for these acts, including criminal prosecutions.
These U.S. actions, to date, hold Russia and Belarus to account.
Sanctions
Sweeping U.S. financial sanctions will impose costs on the Russian and Belarusian economies. Export controls and airspace restrictions will cut off Russia’s and Belarus’ access to vital technological inputs and atrophy their industrial base. These actions will undercut Russia’s and Belarus’ strategic ambitions to exert influence on the world stage.
- May 8, 2022
- Targeting Russia’s Financial, Defense, and Marine Sectors and Promoting Accountability for Russian and Belarusian Military Officials
- Fact Sheet: State Department Actions to Promote Accountability and Impose Costs on the Russian Government for Putin’s Aggression against Ukraine
- Release: U.S. Treasury Takes Sweeping Action Against Russia’s War Efforts
- Fact Sheet: United States and G7 Partners Impose Severe Costs for Putin’s War Against Ukraine
- Statement: G7 Leaders’ Statement
- April 20, 2022
Promoting Accountability for Human Rights Abuses in Russia and Belarus and Taking Action Against Sanctions Evaders - April 7, 2022
- Further Targeting Russian State-Owned Enterprises
- April 6, 2022
Targeting Additional Russian Financial Institutions, Officials, and Other Individuals - April 5, 2022
Sanctions on Darknet Market and Ransomware-Enabling Virtual Currency Exchange - March 31, 2022
Additional Sanctions on Russia’s Technology Companies and Cyber Actors - March 24, 2022
Sanctions on Additional Members of Russia’s Duma, Russian Elites, Bank Board Members, and Defense Entities - March 15, 2022
Treasury Sanctions Russians Connected to Gross Human Rights Violations and Corrupt Leader of Belarus - March 15, 2022
Promoting Accountability for Human Rights Abuses Perpetrated by the Governments of Russia and Belarus - March 15, 2022
U.S. Announces Sanctions on Key Members of Russia’s Defense Enterprise - March 11, 2022
Treasury Sanctions Kremlin Elites, Leaders, Oligarchs, and Family for Enabling Putin’s War Against Ukraine - March 3, 2022
Targeting Russian Elites and Defense Enterprises of Russian Federation - March 2, 2022
U.S. Treasury Takes Additional Steps to Strengthen Compliance with Russia-Related Sanctions - February 28, 2022
Additional Measures Against the Russian Financial System - February 25, 2022
U.S. Treasury Imposes Sanctions on Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov - February 24, 2022
U.S. Treasury Announces Unprecedented & Expansive Sanctions Against Russia, Imposing Swift and Severe Economic Costs - February 24, 2022
U.S. Treasury Targets Belarusian Support for Russian Invasion of Ukraine - February 23, 2022
Sanctioning NS2AG, Matthias Warnig, and NS2AG’s Corporate Officers - February 21, 2022
FACT SHEET: Executive Order to Impose Costs for President Putin’s Action to Recognize So-Called Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics
Export and Import Controls
The United States has imposed stringent export controls on Russia and on Belarus, which has helped enable Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
We continue to restrict Russian imports and exports, adding to and further tightening steps taken after Russia’s occupation of Crimea and invasion of the Donbas in 2014. Measures taken as a result of Putin’s recent actions include these:
- MAY 9, 2022
- Raimondo Announces Temporary Suspension of 232 Tariffs on Ukraine Steel
- April 21, 2022
- A Proclamation on the Declaration of National Emergency and Invocation of Emergency Authority Relating to the Regulation of the Anchorage and Movement of Russian-Affiliated Vessels to United States Ports
- April 9, 2022
- Commerce Department Expands Restrictions on Exports to Russia and Belarus in Response to Ongoing Aggression in Ukraine
- April 7, 2022
- BIS Takes Enforcement Actions Against Three Russian Airlines Operating Aircraft in Violation of U.S. Export Controls
- April 1, 2022
Commerce Adds 120 Entities in Russia and Belarus to the Entity List, Further Limiting the Russian and Belarusian Militaries’ Access to Items That Support Aggression Against Ukraine - March 18, 2022
Commerce Department Identifies Commercial and Private Aircraft Exported to Russia in Apparent Violation of U.S. Export Controls - March 11, 2022
Commerce Restricts the Export of Luxury Goods to Russia and Belarus and to Russian and Belarusian Oligarchs and Malign Actors in Latest Response to Aggression Against Ukraine - March 11, 2022
Executive Order on Prohibiting Certain Imports, Exports, and New Investment with Respect to Continued Russian Federation Aggression - March 10, 2022
U.S. Federal Aviation Administration prohibits Russian aircraft or any aircraft, regardless of the state of registry, owned, chartered, leased, operated or controlled by, for, or for the benefit of, a Russian person or entity subject to U.S. sanctions from operating to, from, within, or through U.S. Territorial Airspace - March 8, 2022
United States Bans Imports of Russian Oil, Liquefied Natural Gas, and Coal - March 7, 2022
Commerce Announces Republic of Korea Exclusion Rule and Joint Statement of the Department of Commerce and Republic of Korea - March 4, 2022
Commerce Takes Further Actions to Target Russian Strategic Industries and Punish Enablers of Aggression - March 2, 2022
Commerce Imposes Sweeping Export Restrictions on Belarus for Enabling Russia’s Further Invasion of Ukraine - February 24, 2022
Commerce Imposes Sweeping Export Restrictions on Russia in Response to Further Invasion of Ukraine
Visa Restrictions
In order to promote accountability for human rights abuses and violations by the Russian Federation and the Lukashenka regime in Belarus, the United States has imposed a series of sanctions and visa restrictions. These actions target Russian and Belarusian officials, Russia’s proxy “authorities” in the parts of Ukraine it controls, and private individuals involved in human rights abuses, corruption and repression related to Putin’s premeditated and unjustified war against Ukraine and its people.
- May 8, 2022
Targeting Russia’s Financial, Defense, and Marine Sectors and Promoting Accountability for Russian and Belarusian Military Officials - April 20, 2022
Promoting Accountability for Human Rights Abuses in Russia and Belarus and Taking Action Against Sanctions Evaders - March 15, 2022
Promoting Accountability for Human Rights Abuses Perpetrated by the Governments of Russia and Belarus
Private Sector Actions
As President Biden said earlier this week, the United States welcomes the decisions of companies to exit Russia because they want no part of Putin’s war of choice against Ukraine. An unofficial list names hundreds of U.S. companies that will stop doing business in Russia.
Justice and Accountability
Based on information currently available, the U.S. government assesses that members of Russia’s forces have committed war crimes in Ukraine. As with any alleged crime, a court of law with jurisdiction over the crime is ultimately responsible for determining criminal guilt in specific cases.
That is why we are supporting a range of mechanisms to document and promote justice and accountability for war crimes and other atrocities committed in Ukraine. This includes helping to build Ukraine’s domestic capacity by supporting the work of the War Crimes Units under the Office of the Ukrainian Prosecutor General. It includes supporting international investigative and accountability-related mechanisms, including the robust new UN Commission of Inquiry, which we helped create, to investigate human rights violations and abuses and violations of international humanitarian law by Russia’s forces. We joined 44 other OSCE countries in launching an Expert Mission, with Ukraine’s support, to examine reported human rights abuses or violations and violations of international humanitarian law, including possible war crimes, by Russia’s forces in Ukraine. And it includes supporting the important work of human rights documenters in Ukraine.
We are committed to pursuing accountability for such acts using every tool available, including criminal prosecutions.
- March 23, 2022
War Crimes by Russia’s Forces in Ukraine