Press Releases

Statement from Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew

(Archived Content)

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Russia has already begun to feel the impact of the international community’s united effort to respond to its unlawful and provocative acts, and the actions we have taken today will ratchet up the pressure on the Russian economy even more. The sanctions we announced today will have serious consequences, and they send a clear signal to the Russian government that their recent actions undermining the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine will not go unanswered. 
 
With today’s Executive Order, we also now have far-reaching authority to designate entities and individuals in key sectors of the Russian economy, such as financial services, energy, metals and mining, engineering, and defense and related materiel.  This provides us with broader tools to highlight the future choices facing Russia’s leadership, and our use of these tools will be based on careful consideration of what will be most effective in meeting that objective.  While a path of de-escalation remains available to Russia, we are prepared to take additional steps to demonstrate that there are costs for violating international law.
 
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