The U.S. State Department has added 33 Russian individuals and entities to its blacklist, a move intended to limit their ability to carry out international transactions by punishing companies and individuals who do business with them.
The Treasury Department also slapped penalties on a Chinese military department for purchasing jets and missiles from a Russian arms export entity that had been previously blacklisted.
The Trump administration made the move as part of a bill Congress passed last year to punish Russia for its 2016 election interference and military intrusions in Ukraine. The 33 individuals and entities will be added to a State Department list of blacklisted Russian military and intelligence operatives, meaning that anyone who partakes in "significant transactions" with the companies will now be hit with sanctions.
The actions follow up on a slate of sanctions the Treasury Department imposed in March over election meddling, and a round of sanctions the State Department announced in August over the attempted assassination in Britain of a former Kremlin spy. Moscow has denied involvement in the poisoning.
Among the individuals and entities blacklisted are billionaire Yevgeniy Viktorovich Prigozhin and his companies Concord Management and Consulting LLC and Concord Catering.
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The [Internet Research Agency] was also blacklisted Thursday.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller indicted Prigozhin and his Concord companies in February, charging them with funding the Internet Research Agency's election interference. The Treasury Department sanctioned them (for a second time) in March. Prigozhin, also known as 'Putin's chef," laughed at the penalty at the time, saying he had no business in the U.S.
Concord Management and Consulting is the one indicted entity fighting Mueller in U.S. court, and Mueller's team is working to protect any pivotal information revealed in that case from making its way back to Putin's allies.
Concord also has been challenging the legality of Mueller's appointment but failing.
Separately, the Trump administration on Thursday hit a Chinese military department for carrying out “significant transactions” with Russian entities that were already blacklisted.
The Economic Development Department and its director, Li Shangfu, will be barred from the U.S. financial system and U.S. visas after buying the equipment this winter from Rosoboronexport, Russia's main arms export agency, which is on the State Department list.
Though intended to warn others considering engaging with Russians on the State Department's list, the sanctions are primarily directed at Russia rather than China, a senior administration official said.
U.S. blacklists Russian entities tied to election meddling (Politico)
CAATSA Section 231: "Addition of 33 Entities and Individuals to the List of Specified Persons and Imposition of Sanctions on the Equipment Development Department" (State Department)