EU and US to hit Russia with fresh sanctions
A new round of European Union sanctions against Russia is to take effect on Friday, imposed over Russia #39;s role in the Ukraine crisis. And the Obama administration also announced that the...
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EU Raises Pressure On Moscow With Tougher Sanctions
The European Union tightened sanctions on Russia on Friday over its role in the Ukrainian conflict--restricting access to financing for top Russian banks, defense, and energy firms, and freezing...
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EU Raises Pressure On Moscow With Tougher Sanctions - Video
In a marked escalation of their sanctions campaign against Russia, the United States and the European Union hit the Kremlin on Friday with new penalties for its actions in Ukraine, targeting favored financial, energy and defense businesses.
The Western governments took steps to cut the flow of capital to these enterprises and to deprive the Russian energy sector, the foundation of the country's economy, of Western know-how and technology it needs to develop new energy fields. The measures will also sting for U.S. energy companies that have been dealing with Russian firms.
The West sharpened sanctions because of Russia's "direct military intervention and blatant efforts to destabilize Ukraine," Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said in a statement.
But officials said the U.S. and Europe could roll back those penalties if Russia observed all the points of a proposed peace plan and respects the week-old cease-fire in Ukraine's embattled eastern region.
The Obama administration hit Russia's largest bank, Sherbank, for the first time and also sanctioned 10 government defense and energy firms. The European Union sanctions, in addition to its penalties on defense, energy and financial firms, extended asset freezes and travel bans on 24 individuals believed to be connected to Russia's aggression in Ukraine.
To dry up Western financing, both the U.S. and the EU have made it illegal for their companies to buy debt with maturity of more than 30 days from key Russian banks.
The U.S. sanctions bar American companies from providing goods or services for the deepwater, Arctic and offshore and shale energy projects of five Russian companies: Rosneft, Gazprom, Gazprom Neft, Lukoil and Surgutneftegas.
The goal is to "effectively shut down this type of oil exploration and production activity," said an official who declined to be identified under ground rules set by the administration.
Among the U.S. firms that could suffer from the move is ExxonMobil, which has been working on a joint venture with Rosneft in the Arctic.
Analysts said this round of sanctions is likely to be especially painful to the Kremlin because it hits energy projects that are key to replacing fast-depleting Russian energy fields and also goes after state-run defense firms the government has been aiming to expand.
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U.S., European Union target Russian energy sector with new sanctions
By Jenny Anderson
LONDON: Tremors over a possible breakup of the United Kingdom have been felt here in recent days, as markets gyrate and banks make contingency plans.
Yet as Scotland nears its vote on whether to be an independent nation, bankers here worry that a split might unintentionally set in motion a push for what could be a much uglier divorce: an exit of Britain from the European Union.
"There's a sense of, 'If it could happen in Scotland, it could it happen in the UK,'" said Chris Cummings, chief executive of TheCityUK, a lobbying group for the financial sector.
If an independent Scotland would be complicated, a Britain alone in Europe would be a complete mess, financial executives say.
"Certainly the more important of the two is the potential of Britain leaving the EU," said Brian Hilliard, the chief British economist at Societe Generale in London.
Britain, for many businesses, particularly financial services, is a gateway into the rest of the 28-nation European Union, a market of 500 million people, more than the United States and Japan combined. For businesses like Citigroup or Goldman Sachs, having a London office means having a passport for nearly all of Europe. Without that unfettered access, the free flow of capital, talent, and goods and services would have to be renegotiated.
"It is hard to be the gateway to the EU if you are not in the EU," Cummings said.
A diminished gateway status would hurt the financial industry, which accounts for 7 percent of Britain's gross domestic product and nearly 4 percent of jobs. Finance attracts more foreign direct investment than any other sector, and Britain attracts more foreign direct investment than any other member of the EU, according to TheCityUK.
Bankers worry that without the promise of all of Europe behind it, London - rivaled only by New York as the world's leading financial center - would not attract the same interest, and neither would Britain.
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If Scoltand goes, will Britain exit European Union too?