Obama: New Sanctions Against Russia Will Have 'an Even Bigger Bite'

The White House(WASHINGTON) — The United States will unleash a new round of sanctions against Russia in the wake of the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, President Obama said on Tuesday.

“The cost on Russia will continue to grow,” the president said in a statement at the White House. “Today is a reminder that the United States means what it says.”

Obama said Russia has, so far, “failed to cooperate with the investigations” into the downing of the Malaysian aircraft.

Earlier Tuesday, the European Union agreed to a new package of sanctions on Russia — for the first time imposing “sectoral” sanctions on Russia’s finance and energy industries, as well as banning arms exports to Russia.

Obama called them the “most significant and wide-ranging sanctions to date.”

The EU says the sanctions will limit access to EU capital markets for Russian State-owned financial institutions, impose an embargo on trade in arms, establish an export ban for dual use goods for military end users, and curtail Russian access to sensitive technologies particularly in the field of the oil sector.

Meanwhile, at the State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki emphasized the U.S. welcomed “Europe’s determination to take strong new steps and the strong — this trans-Atlantic community and G-7 are united in their determination to respond to continued and intensified Russian aggression.”


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