西方最新制裁針對俄國國防工業

The U.S. says new Western economic sanctions against Russia for its involvement in Ukraine will target Moscow's defense industry and companies with close links to President Vladimir Putin.

A White House aide, deputy national security adviser Tony Blinken, told Sunday news shows in the U.S. that starting this week the latest sanctions would exert "additional pressure" on the corporate officials closest to Mr. Putin and the companies they control.

Blinken said high technology exports to the defense firms would be targeted and predicted that "all of this together is going to have an impact."

The increased sanctions are the latest attempt by the U.S. and its European allies to try to force Mr. Putin to curb Russia's role in eastern Ukraine and pull back its military forces from near the Russian border with Ukraine. Earlier sanctions targeted some banking activities and other corporate officials close to Mr. Putin.

Whether the sanctions are having a direct effect on the Russian economy is hard to determine. The Russian economy had been weakening even before Russia's stalemate with the West over Ukraine evolved, with growth expected this year to be negligible. Blinken said that Moscow's financial markets have dropped 22 percent since the beginning of the year, the ruble is at all-time low and investors have withdrawn $70 billion from the Russian economy.美國表示，西方對俄羅斯捲入烏克蘭事務的最新制裁針對俄羅斯的國防工業和那些跟普京總統關係密切的公司。

白宮助理、副國家安全顧問布林肯星期天在美國電視新聞節目上說，從本星期開始，最新制裁將向和普京最密切的大公司官員以及他們控制的公司施加額外的壓力。

布林肯說，制裁將針對向俄羅斯國防公司的高科技出口。他還預言，“這些措施加在一起將產生影響。”

新的制裁措施是美國和歐洲盟國迫使普京遏制俄羅斯在東烏克蘭的作用，從俄烏邊界撤出軍隊的最新嘗試。早些時候的制裁針對一些銀行活動和其他和普京關係密切的大公司官員。

很難確定這些制裁能否對俄國經濟造成直接影響。在俄羅斯跟西方就烏克蘭問題發生對峙之前，俄羅斯經濟就已經疲弱。今年的增長預計微乎其微。布林肯說，從今年初開始俄國金融市場下跌了22%。盧布處於歷史最低點。投資者已經從俄羅斯經濟中撤出7百億美元。