US House Committee Calls for Sanctions on 35 Officials - Top Brass & Businessmen

LOCAL NEWS

• US House Committee recommends imposing sanctions against 35 key Russian officials to the defense budget, including ministers, businessmen, public figures and journalists.
  • US lawmakers said these individuals were involved in violating human rights. List targets Kremlin spox Peskov, PM Mishustin CEC's Ella Pamfilova, Agri Min Patrushev & HealthMin Murashko – among others.
  • The list also includes major businessmen such as Roman Abramovch. The amendment is recommendatory and has not been reviewed by the US house
• Lavrov & NATO's Stoltenberg discuss relations in a closed door meeting yesterday, with the Russian Ministry saying it "firmly drew attention to concrete proposals on de-escalation of tensions and reduction of tensions at the contact line"
• Ukraine's Zelensky vows "strong response" after gun attack on his senior aide Shefir yesterday – which was viewed as a retaliation on a push to rein in oligarchs.
  • Zelensky said Russia could not be ruled out as a suspect for this attack, but the Kremelin said it had nothing to do with it
• Moscow sees spike in Covid hospitalisations following election weekend with numbers up 15% vs the prior week alongside 24% rise in infections
• Russian Ambassador says Russia-Chinese cooperation continues to strengthen amid the pandemic.
  • Stressed that trade increased significantly in the last 8 months of 2021, especially in e-commerce and the share of net FX settlements between them has also been on the rise. Notes the meeting on 30 Nov between deputy PMs will be important