The next round of US sanctions against Moscow over Ukraine will target Russia’s defense industry as well as individuals and companies close to President Vladimir Putin, a senior US official said Sunday.

“Starting this week, in coordination with our allies and partners, we’ll be exerting additional pressure on the people closest to him, the companies they control, the defense industry. All of this,” deputy national security adviser Tony Blinken said on CNN’s State of the Union.

In a separate interview with CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Blinken said high technology exports to the Russian defense industry would be affected.

President Barack Obama said earlier Sunday the sanctions being drawn up by G7 countries were a punishment for Moscow’s “provocation” in eastern Ukraine.

SOURCE AFP, Read more..