WASHIGNTON, March 15, 2022 (BSS/TASS) - US Department of State announced
the imposition of sanctions again 11 high-ranking representatives of the
Russian forces and military-industrial complex Monday, including Russian
National Guard head Viktor Zolotov, head of Russian Federal Service on
military-technical cooperation Dmitry Shugayev, Rosoboronexport CEO Alexander
Mikheyev and eight Russian Deputy Defense Ministers.

    "The world has watched in horror as Russia has perpetrated a
premeditated, unprovoked, and unjustified attack on Ukraine. Russia's further
invasion of Ukraine. [...]Today, the Department of State is continuing to
impose severe costs on Russian defense leaders," the Department of State said
in its statement.

    "The following 11 individuals are being designated pursuant to E.O. 14024
Section 1(a)(i), as persons who operate or have operated in the defense and
related materiel sector of the Russian Federation economy," the statement
follows.

    The sanctions are being imposed, inter alia, against Russian Deputy
Ministers of Defense Alexey Krivoruchko, Timur Ivanov, Yunus-Bek Evkurov,
Dmitry Bulgakov, Yury Sadovenko, Nikolay Pankov, Ruslan Tsalikov and Gennady
Zhidko.

    The inclusion to the sanctions list means freezing of all assets in the
US and ban for US citizens or companies for having business with people on
the list, the statement notes.

    Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a televised address on February
24 that in response to a request by the heads of the Donbass republics he had
made a decision to carry out a special military operation in order to protect
people "who have been suffering from abuse and genocide by the Kiev regime
for eight years." The Russian leader stressed that Moscow had no plans of
occupying Ukrainian territories.

    When clarifying the developments unfolding, the Russian Defense Ministry
reassured that Russian troops are not targeting Ukrainian cities, but are
limited to surgically striking and incapacitating Ukrainian military
infrastructure

    After that, the US, the EU, the UK and a number of other states imposed
sanctions against Russian citizens and companies.