Here's our related newsroom item with the background:
The U.S. government has accused Russia of conducting tests that violate a 1987 nuclear-missile treaty that Washington says is "a very serious matter." A U.S. administration official said President Barack Obama notified Russian President Vladimir Putin about the charges in a letter on July 28. The U.S. says Russia tested a new ground-launched cruise missile, breaking the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty that U.S. President Ronald Reagan signed with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev some 27 years ago. The treaty was designed to eliminate ground-launched missiles with 500 to 5,500 kilometer ranges. The findings will be in a State Department report on arms-control treaty compliance due out on July 29. Washington has expressed concern over possible violations before but this is the first time it has formally accused Russia of violating the treaty.
From Washington correspondent Luke Johnson (@Johnson). VTB is the biggest of the trio:
The U.S. Treasury Department added three banks to a list of sectoral sanctions and sanctioned one shipbuilding company on July 29 in response to Russia's actions in Ukraine.
Bank of Moscow, Russian Agricultural Bank, and VTB Bank were added to a list of companies to which U.S. persons and firms are barred from providing financing for longer than 90 days or issuing new equity for the companies.
However, U.S. individuals are not barred from doing business with them.
United Shipbuilding Corporation of St. Petersburg, Russia, which is state-owned, was added to a list of entities with which U.S. individuals are prohibited from doing any business.
Not everyone's impressed by the sanctions, I guess.
Obama blames "Russia and its proxies in Ukraine" for failing to allow a proper investigation of the MH17 downing, curb destabilizing efforts, or end the cross-border supply of weapons.
ITAR-TASS quotes a "ministry of information" for the "Donetsk People's Republic" denying that group was ending "cooperation" with the OSCE:
The self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic on Tuesday refuted media allegation that it planned to withdraw from cooperation with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
"The government of the Donetsk People's Republic has been efficiently cooperating with the OSCE mission for a long period," the republic's ministry of Information said, "A number of conditions to organize the investigation of the Malaysian Boeing crash were ensured in close contact with the OSCE; rounds of informal consultations on ceasefire with the Ukrainian side have been held with the OSCE participation."
Obama: "This is a choice that Russia, and particular President Putin, has made."
Obama: "not a new cold war."
Obama: the U.S. sanctions against Russia announced today entail a "bigger bite," targeting that country's energy, finance, and arms sectors.
U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki speaking at a news briefing in Washington on the timing of U.S. claims that Russia violated the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty of 1987:
"We first raised this issue with Russia last year. That happens at [U.S. Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security] Rose [Gottemoeller's] level, which is the appropriate level -- the undersecretary level. Decisions need to be made in these cases based on whether these issues constitute noncompliance after a careful fact-based process, which includes diplomatic work and an interagency consideration process. That has been ongoing, as it was concluded the information is made available to Congress."
"To be clear this has nothing to do with Ukraine -- I understand there could be the perception -- and the timing is unrelated to [anything] having to do with Ukraine. There is a process that is [usually] undergone to review whether there is noncompliance and that was completed."