Nearly 18 months after word of a deadly new virus began leaking out of Wuhan, China, the Chinese governmentâs response remains fundamentally hostile to international cooperation and transparency. Despite hundreds of offers of assistance, polite diplomatic entreaties, and demands for access to data by governments and health authorities across the globe, the world still knows far too little about COVID-19âs origin. As in a Dali painting, the clocks have melted but time has not stood still.
Chinaâs initial silencing and censoring of its doctors and scientists, followed by misinformation about COVID-19âs dangersâespecially denials concerning the virusâs ability to be spread human-to-human, invisibly and asymptomaticallyâhelped cost the world trillions of dollars and millions of lives.
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Recently, the U.S. Treasury Department s Office of Foreign
Assets Control ( OFAC ) sanctioned various individuals
and entities connected to Russia s technology sector and also
expanded sanctions against dealings in Russian sovereign
debt. In addition to these immediate actions, President Biden
also issued a new Executive Order which will significantly expand
OFAC s authority to impose future sanctions against Russia.
Background
The White House published a Fact Sheet which explains the recent sanctions
actions were a response to Russian election interference and
cyber-attacks directed at the United States. A month prior to
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The Biden administration continues to utilize United States trade sanctions and export controls as a key tool in its efforts to put pressure on China, Myanmar/Burma and Russia. Since our last update, actions by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), the U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), the U.S. State Department (State) and the U.S. State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC) have been bolstered by similar actions taken by U.S. allies, indicating multilateral support for the Biden administration’s efforts to combat ongoing human rights crises and national security concerns in these regions.
Russia Fast Facts
Here’s a look at Russia. The Russian Federation is the largest country in the world, covering more than one-ninth of the earth’s land area.
About Russia
Area: 17 million sq km (1.8 times the size of the United States)
Population: 142,320,790 (July 2021 est.)
Median age: 40.3 years
Capital: Moscow
Ethnic groups: Russian 77.7%, Tatar 3.7%, Ukrainian 1.4%, Bashkir 1.1%, Chuvash 1%, Chechen 1%, other 10.2%, unspecified 3.9% (2010 est., most recent available)
Religion: Russian Orthodox 15-20%, Muslim 10-15%, other Christian 2% (2006 est.)
Unemployment: 4.6% (2019 est.)
One of the top producers of natural gas and oil in the world.
The legislative body, the Federal Assembly, is made up of the lower house, the State Duma, and the upper house, the Federation Council.