<p><span>The United States took significant and unprecedented action to respond to Russia’s further invasion of Ukraine by imposing severe economic costs that will have both immediate and long-term effects on the Russian economy and financial system. The</span><b> </b><span>U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) today imposed expansive economic measures, in partnership with allies and partners, that target the core infrastructure of the Russian financial system — including all of Russia’s largest financial institutions and the ability of state-owned and private entities to raise capital — and further bars Russia from the global financial system. The actions also target nearly 80 percent of all banking assets in Russia and will have a deep and long-lasting effect on the Russian economy and financial system.</span></p>
Russian troops have poured into Ukraine by land, air and sea. Ukraine said 57 of its citizens have been killed so far and more than 160 wounded as explosions wrack the country s major cities.
The Russian elites targeted by Thursday s sanctions round are either from prominent families close to Putin himself, or powerful leaders in the country s financial sector, the administration said.