The US and EU take coordinated action to broaden and align their Russia-related sanctions — which may evolve further depending on Ukraine peace plan progress.

On September 12, 2014, the US and the EU announced new and expanded sanctions on certain entities and projects in Russia. These measures reflect growing coordination between the US and the EU to impose tougher and more consistent sanctions that target certain sectors of the Russian economy, in an effort to pressure the Russian government to modify its approach towards Ukraine.

Specifically, thr US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) OFAC expanded the so-called “sectoral sanctions” previously issued under Executive Order 13662 and first implemented by OFAC Directives 1 and 2 in July 2014. OFAC amended Directive 1 and Directive 2 to revise existing restrictions on dealing in new debt and equity covered by those directives. Most importantly, Directive 1 now restricts dealings in new debt of covered entities of greater than 30 days duration (decreased from 90 days). OFAC also added new entities to the list of those covered by Directives 1 and 2, including Sberbank, Russia’s largest bank.