U.S. Targets Russian Chipmaker in Fresh Round of Sanctions

(Bloomberg) -- The U.S. announced new sanctions on Russia's economy, targeting what it said was Russia's biggest chipmaker and largest exporter of microelectronics, as the Biden administration pledges to keep raising the pressure on Moscow over the war in Ukraine.

Joint Stock Company Mikron, which the Treasury Department said is a critical Russian chipmaker as well as a key manufacturer of integrated circuits and electronic components, was one of 21 entities and 13 individuals hit with penalties on Thursday. Mikron also produces the domestic chip used for Russia's National Payment Card System, known as Mir, Treasury said.

“We will continue to target Putin's war machine with sanctions from every angle, until this senseless war of choice is over,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a statement.

With Russia not backing down over the invasion of Ukraine, U.S, European and allied nations continue to seek ways to punish Moscow without doing damage to their own economies.

The Mir payment system, which Mikron was instrumental in creating, has been used by Russia to help insulate the country from some financial penalties brought on by the war after Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. suspended operations. Russia has also encouraged India to link its Unified Payments Interface with Mir for seamless use of cards issued by Indian and Russian banks, according to one person familiar with the plan.

The latest sanctions also target several other companies in Russia's tech sector, which Treasury said is reliant on Western technologies to make their products function. They include AO NII-Vektor, a company involved in satellite manufacturing; T-Platforms, a computer company linked to the country's defense industry; and Molecular Electronics Research Institute, a company that produces navigation equipment.

There are still large gaps in the sanctions wall built since the war began. Bloomberg News reported Wednesday that half of Russia's 20 richest people had not been sanctioned, leaving a group of super-rich, powerful billionaires free to operate around the world without legal restriction. Those individuals didn't appear to be targeted by the latest sanctions.

A previous round of restrictions was announced by President Joe Biden a week ago -- full blocking sanctions on more than a dozen Russian elites and 328 members of the Duma, Russia's lower house of parliament, as well as 48 Russian defense companies.

Half of Russia's Top 20 Richest Billionaires Are Not Sanctioned

With signs that Russia is shifting to focus its war effort in Ukraine's east, U.S. officials say they intend to continue to tighten or expand existing penalties against Moscow in coordination with European allies. But many European nations are still reluctant to consider restrictions on oil and gas purchases, Moscow's biggest source of revenue, because of their dependence on Russian energy. Instead, Europe is working to reduce energy demand.

In early March, the Biden administration sanctioned eight wealthy Russians and their families, imposed U.S. visa restrictions on an additional 19 Russians and 47 of their family members, and announced a Justice Department task force to seize luxury assets belonging to Russia's wealthiest citizens.