The US on Friday imposed a tighter economic embargo on the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed this year, and put new sanctions on separatist leaders in eastern Ukraine as Washington joined Europe in trying to keep the pressure on Moscow.
US President Barack Obama signed an executive order barring new investment and trade with Crimea and freezing the property of people or businesses found to be operating in the region or helping its new leadership. The administration also targeted 24 others involved in the pro-Russian uprising in eastern Ukraine, barring their entry into the US and freezing any assets there.
The order “is intended to provide clarity to United States corporations doing business in the region and reaffirm that the United States will not accept Russia’s occupation and attempted annexation of Crimea,” Obama said in a statement.
“I again call on Russia to end its occupation and attempted annexation of Crimea, cease its support to separatists in eastern Ukraine and fulfill its commitments under the Minsk agreements” calling for a ceasefire and political settlement, he said.
The actions came a day after similar moves by the EU, and they were meant to demonstrate enduring unity between the allies in the face of Russian efforts to drive a wedge between them. Russia is already reeling from a currency crisis fueled partly by previous sanctions and economic isolation stemming from its intervention in Ukraine, as well as the falling price of oil.
The new measures are relatively modest compared with some of the sanctions imposed earlier this year and might not do much to change the economic outlook in Moscow, but US officials said they would send a message to Russian President Vladimir Putin that the West is not backing down.
“It basically says you can claim your war prize,” meaning Crimea, “but it’s not going to be worth much to you, and we’re not going to make it easy for you,” said a senior administration official, who asked not to be named discussing diplomatic strategy.
Without outside investment, officials said, Moscow will have to invest more of its own money to keep the peninsula afloat.
Obama’s move came a day after he signed bipartisan legislation authorizing more punitive sanctions against Russia, as well as US$350 million in military aid to Ukraine. However, the actions on Friday were taken under existing authority and were not related to that legislation.
The White House said Obama did not plan to use the power of the new law at this point, because he was reluctant to move more aggressively than European allies were willing to. Europe does far more business with Russia than the US does and faces more economic consequences from sanctions.
Obama signed the legislation only after pressing the US Congress to make its provisions largely discretionary, but critics said he should carry them out to put more pressure on Moscow to reverse course.
“We will continue to review and calibrate our sanctions in close coordination with our international partners to respond to Russia’s actions,” he said.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not