Thread by @pleasesaveour

The Biden administration imposed a raft of new sanctions on Russia, including long-feared restrictions on buying new sovereign debt, in retaliation for alleged misconduct related to the SolarWinds Corp. hack and efforts to disrupt the U.S. election.

bloomberg.com/news/articles/…

Sanctions 32 entities and indivs incl gov and intel officials, and 6 Russian cos that provide support to the Ru government’s hacking operations. The U.S. is also expelling 10 Russian diplomats working in Washington, including some intelligence officers.

home.treasury.gov/policy-issues/…

The Biden administration is barring U.S. financial institutions from participating in the primary market for new debt issued by the Russian central bank, Finance Ministry and sovereign wealth fund.

The latest moves come just two days after President Joe Biden warned Vladimir Putin the U.S. would defend its interests but also offered the possibility of a summit meeting in the coming months, drawing a cautiously positive response from Moscow.

Several of the sanctioned entities have links to Yevgeny Prigozhin, a Russian businessman dubbed “Putin’s Chef”
He controls the Wagner group of mercenaries that fought in Syria and Libya, and deployed to hotspots in Africa and Latin America in support of Kremlin policy.