[co-author: Alexander Dieter, Law Clerk]

On February 24, 2023, the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the White House announced a series of actions that the U.S. and Group of 7 (“G7”) will take to support Ukraine and impose further costs on Russia.

To help Ukraine repel Russian aggression, the U.S. will provide additional security, economic, and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine, and the G7, World Bank, and International Monetary Fund will continue working with Ukraine to provide economic and budget support.

To counter Russia, the U.S. will impose additional economic sanctions, export controls, and tariffs designed to degrade the Russian economy, disrupt the Russian military’s ability to wage war, and reduce U.S. dependence on Russian imports. Moreover, the G7 nations – the U.S., UK, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, and Japan – will establish an “Enforcement Coordination Mechanism,” which will be chaired by the U.S. in the first year, to improve multilateral cooperation on the enforcement of economic sanctions and export controls. G7 leaders will also announce new commitments to impose restrictive measures targeting Russia’s energy, extractive, financial, defense, and industrial sectors. To implement such commitments, the U.S. is announcing the following new economic measures targeting Russia:

Economic Sanctions:

• In conjunction with G7 partners and allies, the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) are announcing new sweeping U.S. sanctions targeting key revenue generating sectors of the Russian economy to impose further costs on the Russian economy and diminish the Russian military’s ability to wage war in Ukraine.
• List-based sanctions will be imposed on over 200 individuals and entities, including Russian and third-country actors across Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. A dozen Russian financial institutions will be targeted, as well as numerous Russian officials and proxy authorities illegitimately operating in Ukraine. Additional actors connected to Russia's defense and technology industries will be sanctioned, including those responsible for enabling Russian sanctions evasion and backfilling Russian stocks of sanctioned items.
• OFAC is enhancing and expanding its use of Russia-related sanctions authorities by issuing a determination identifying the metals and mining sector of the Russian economy pursuant to section 1(a)(i) of Executive Order 14024, thereby allowing sanctions to be imposed on any individual or entity determined to operate or have operated in that sector. The U.S. is expanding its sanctions authorities to Russia's metals and mining sector in a manner designed to minimize market disruption.
• Russia's future energy capabilities will be targeted in a manner that does not impact current production to minimize market disruption.

Export Controls:

• The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) is taking several export control actions to restrict exports to Russia. BIS is issuing four new rules, effective immediately, to enhance the effectiveness of the multilateral sanctions on Russia by limiting access to items that enable its military capabilities and sources of revenue that could support those capabilities.
• Nearly 90 Russian and third country companies, including those in China among other countries, will be added to BIS’s Entity List for engaging in sanction evasion and backfill activities in support of Russia's defense sector, thereby prohibiting the targeted companies from purchasing items, such as semiconductors, whether made in the U.S. or with certain U.S. technology or software abroad.
• BIS is taking action alongside G7 partners and allies to align measures on industrial machinery, luxury goods, and other items, and impose new restrictions to prevent components found in Iranian drones from making their way onto the battlefield in Ukraine.

Tariffs:

• President Biden, building on the U.S.’s previous efforts to strip Russia of its international trade privileges, issued a proclamation that will raise tariffs on more than 100 Russian metals, minerals, and chemical products worth approximately $2.8 billion to Russia.
• Such measures are designed to target key Russian commodities generating revenue for the Kremlin, thereby reducing U.S. reliance on Russia while minimizing costs to U.S. consumers. These tariffs, which will significantly increase the costs for aluminum smelted or cast in Russia to enter the U.S. market, will also counter harm to the domestic aluminum industry resulting from the surge in energy costs following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

These actions demonstrate that – one year after the Russian invasion of Ukraine commenced – the commitment of the U.S. and its G7 partners and allies to support Ukraine and counter Russian aggression remains strong.