The US has increased pressure on Russia with further sanctions by blacklisting a high-profile bank and a number of individuals that form part of President Vladimir Putin's inner circle in a bid to reduce the global standoff in Ukraine.

The US has increased pressure on Russia with further sanctions by blacklisting a high-profile bank and a number of individuals that form part of President Vladimir Putin's inner circle in a bid to reduce the global standoff in Ukraine.

According to a statement from the US Department of Treasury, the new list of sanctioned officials includes 20 names and imposes travel bans and financial restrictions on a number of Putin's most influential supporters.

The measures have targeted a number of individuals with close ties to Putin, including: Sergei Ivanov, the president’s chief of staff; Russian billionaire Gennady Timchenko; Arkady Rotenberg and Boris Rotenberg, who are linked to high-price contracts for the Sochi Olympic Games and state-controlled Gazprom; and Yuri Kovalchuk, the personal banker for senior officials of the Russian Federation, including Putin.

Sanctions were also imposed on Bank Rossiya, the personal bank for senior officials of the Russian Federation. Rossiya is Russia's 17th largest bank with assets of approximately $10 billion, and has numerous relationships to banks in the US and Europe, with customers in the oil, gas and energy sectors.

Following the referendum held in Crimea at the weekend in which the vast majority of voters chose to merge the region with Russia, the European Union punished senior Russian government officials and other named individuals with asset freezes and travels bans. The US also ordered similar sanctions against 11 individuals.

President Barack Obama said in a statement that the US was also considering sanctions against key economic sectors including oil and gas, mining and the defence industry.

“This is not our preferred outcome. These sanctions would not only have a significant impact on the Russian economy, but could also be disruptive to the global economy. However, Russia must know that further escalation will only isolate it further from the international community,” the president said.

Europe

On Friday morning, Putin formally signed a treaty completing the procedure to absorb Crimea into the Russian Federation. Russia's Federation Council unanimously voted to approve the treaty earlier in the day, paving the way for Putin to sign it into law.

Meanwhile, the EU said at a summit on Thursday that it had extended its sanctions to include another 12 individuals, bringing the total up to 33, and would introduce further economic measures if the situation were to escalate. The EU said it was also cancelling the next EU-Russia summit in June along with other bilateral summits.

European Council President Herman Van Rompuy said failure to settle the crisis peacefully, and any steps by Russia to destabilise Ukraine, would have “far-reaching consequences”.

“Sanctions are not a question of retaliation; they are a foreign policy tool. Not a goal in themselves, but a means to an end. Our goal is to stop Russian action against Ukraine, to restore Ukraine's sovereignty – and to achieve this we need a negotiated solution. Europe stands ready to facilitate and engage in a meaningful dialogue involving Ukraine and Russia and supports all multilateral initiatives towards that aim,” he said.

In response to Russia's annexation of Crimea, EU leaders have signed an agreement on closer relations with Ukraine to give the country's interim leadership under prime minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk greater economic and political support.

President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso welcomed the decisions made regarding the EU's support of Ukraine and said the accord recognised “the aspirations of the people of Ukraine to live in a country governed by values, by democracy and the rule of law, where all citizens have a stake in national prosperity”.

“We made very clear that we will deliver our strong and concrete support to Ukraine. It's essential that this country becomes a viable, stable prosperous and democratic country,” the president said.

The European Council has asked the European Commission to evaluate the legal consequences of the annexation of Crimea and to propose economic, trade and financial restrictions. Barroso explained that the commission will also prepare possible targeted measures, “to show to Russia that some of this behaviour is simply unacceptable”.