The Biden Treasury Department plans to impose over 500 new sanctions on Russia on Friday, the largest single group of sanctions the U.S. has leveled against Russia since it invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022. The sanctions follow a series of recent arrests and indictments targeting Russian businessmen, including the head of Russia’s second-largest bank, announced by the Justice Department on Thursday.
The White House promised significant sanctions in response to the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in an Arctic penal colony. Biden, who met with Navalny’s wife and daughter on Thursday, said the sanctions would be “against Putin, who is responsible for his death.” The Russian government maintains that Navalny died of natural causes.
The new sanctions add to the thousands of others that have already been imposed on Russian officials, businessmen, banks, companies, and whole industries since the war began.
The sanctions are part of a larger effort on the part of the Biden administration to maintain its support for Ukraine in the face of Republican opposition to increased funding of the war. Republicans in Congress are largely opposed to sending any more financial aid to Ukraine, especially as the U.S. border crisis continues unabated and unaddressed.