The US has imposed furr punitive measures against Russia because of procedure in Ukraine. 20 companies and 21 individuals were affected by new sanctions, Ministry of Finance in Washington said.

The sanction list was thus extended by eleven Prorussian separatists – among m finance and justice ministers of self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Luhansk. According to U.S. ministry, decision also referred to Russian state representatives such as Deputy Energy minister Andrei Tscheresow.

The background of new sanctions is a dispute over supply of gas turbines to Crimea. For example, Russian company Technopromexport has transported several Siemens turbines to Ukrainian peninsula in order to expand infrastructure re. The company is a subsidiary of State group Rostec, both of which are now on US sanction list.

Russia had annexed Crimea in spring of 2014. The Ukrainian peninsula has since been subject to economic sanctions by EU and USA. US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson met with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Friday in Davos to discuss situation in Crimea.

Prime ministers want to loosen sanctions

The prime ministers of matters-Anhalt and Thuringia, however, called for a loosening of EU's sanctions on Russia. At meeting of East German heads of government on Monday, one wants to propose a common position, said Saxony-Anhalt minister President Reiner Haseloff (CDU) to mirror. He is suggesting a gradual reduction of penalties.

Thuringia's prime minister, Bodo Ramelow (left) also spoke out against continuation of sanctions. The punitive measures were "a dead horse, on which one should not ride furr," he said to mirror. The problems in Ukraine are not dissolved by "symbolic politics on back of our farms".

As Institute for World Economy (IfW) identified in December 2017, German economy suffers a monthly export loss of an average of 618 million euros through sanctions. In particular, East German companies are affected because of ir close relations with Russian companies – where imports of Russia decreased by half between 2014 and 2016, Spiegel reported by citing Federal Statistical Office. The volume of exports also shrank by one third.

Date Of Update: 27 January 2018, 12:02