The U.S. leveled new sanctions on Russian Parliament and defense companies.

The US hit Russia with a brand new spherical of sanctions on Thursday, concentrating on greater than 300 members of its Parliament and dozens of protection firms, whereas shifting to limit Russia’s capacity to make use of gold reserves to prop up its foreign money.

The actions, which got here along with new sanctions from Western allies, had been the most recent try and inflict financial ache on President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia for his invasion of Ukraine. Along with imposing new sanctions, the U.S. moved to curtail Russia’s capacity to evade current restrictions on its central financial institution and main monetary establishments. There had been issues that Russia was discovering methods to stabilize the ruble and rebuild its foreign money reserves.

“The US, with our companions and allies, is hanging on the coronary heart of Russia’s capacity to finance and perform its warfare and atrocities towards Ukraine,” Janet L. Yellen, the Treasury secretary, stated in an announcement.

The sanctions had been introduced as President Biden met with world leaders at summits in Brussels targeted on the struggle in Ukraine.

Senior Biden administration officers stated on Thursday that the sanctions had taken a extreme toll on Russia’s economic system and cited forecasts projecting that the Russian economic system would contract by 15 p.c this yr, wiping out 15 years of good points. Additionally they pointed to estimates that greater than 200,000 individuals had left Russia within the final month, accelerating a “mind drain.”

The brand new sanctions goal 328 members of the State Duma, the decrease home of Russia’s Federal Meeting. Additionally they embrace Russian protection firms equivalent to Tactical Missiles Company JSC, which makes weapons techniques.

As a part of the trouble to place monetary strain on Mr. Putin’s allies, the U.S. stated it was sanctioning Herman Gref, the president and chairman of Sberbank, one in every of Russia’s largest banks. The U.S. imposed sanctions on Sberbank final month.

The Treasury Division is taking goal at various belongings that Russia might use to assist its economic system. It issued new steering on Thursday to clarify that transactions involving Russia’s $130 billion of gold reserves had been additionally topic to U.S. sanctions. Russia constructed up its gold struggle chest in recent times to assist blunt the affect of sanctions by permitting its central financial institution to make use of the valuable metallic to purchase foreign money or safe loans.

The U.S. is working to shut that loophole by threatening sanctions on anybody that facilitates such transactions. The Treasury Division steering included anybody “decided to be liable for or complicit in, or to have straight or not directly engaged or tried to interact in” the circumventing of sanctions, together with by belongings like gold.