The Biden administration on Friday imposed what it called “swift and severe” sanctions on Russia in response to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s move earlier in the day to annex four territories of Ukraine.
The wide-ranging sanctions by the Treasury, State, and Commerce departments target more than 1,000 Russian people and companies, in retaliation for Putin’s annexation of the disputed regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia into the Russian Federation.
Putin’s Friday declaration marked the biggest annexation in Europe since World War Two. The four regions represent some 15 percent of Ukrainian territory. Starting about a week ago, residents of those four Ukrainian regions held referendums, although U.S. and European Union officials claimed it was a sham….