“The United States plans to announce a significant tightening of sanctions against Russia in the coming days” – said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, quoted by Bloomberg.
The Treasury Secretary did not specify what the new measures would consist of. However, they may be important for the market. Scott Bessent indicated that more will be known “after the US stock market closes on Wednesday evening or Thursday morning.
See also: Russian cryptocurrencies bypass sanctions. Flows amount to billions of dollars
The announcement came after the White House backed off plans for President Donald Trump to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the near future.
Earlier, the Wall Street Journal reported that The US administration has lifted a key restriction on Ukraine's use of some long-range missiles provided to it by Western partners.
The newspaper emphasized that this step would allow Ukrainians to intensify attacks on targets located deep inside Russian territory and increase pressure on the Kremlin.
EU sanctions on Russia
There is more bad news for Moscow. On Wednesday evening, EU member states reached unanimity on imposing the 19th package of sanctions on Russia. Formal approval is expected to take place on Thursday morning.
Goes among others for a ban on importing Russian LNG from 2027. The package also included a transaction ban for Rosneft and Gazprom Neft and sanctions on further ships from the so-called Russian shadow fleet used to circumvent oil sanctions.
See also: This is how Russia wants to checkmate the EU. “Symmetrical means”
“We are very pleased to announce that we have just received information from the remaining Member State that it is now in a position to withdraw its reservations regarding the 19th sanctions package. A written procedure has therefore been launched to obtain Council consent. If no objections are received, the package will be adopted tomorrow at 8“, it was reported.
