The Ministry of Finance has increased the cost of economic isolation for key Russian companies that need access to medium- and long-term financing instruments in the United States, the ministry said in a statement. The sanctions will limit these corporations' access to the American financial system and economy.

“Russia continues to destabilize Ukraine and provide support to separatists despite claims to the contrary,” said David Cohen, the Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, explaining the introduction of new sanctions.

The actions were agreed with European leaders, a US Treasury spokesman said. The EU summit, which began yesterday in Brussels at 10 p.m. Moscow time, is to consider its own package of measures.

The agreement on synchronicity of US and EU measures against Russia was reached during the last phone call between President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Obama promised to impose sanctions on the financial and energy sectors and threatened to ban technology exports back in May. The sanctions will be more effective if the EU supports them, Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland explained last week. Last week, US senators criticized the White House for its inaction at a hearing on Ukraine and promised to begin imposing restrictions on their own, bypassing the administration, if measures are not taken.

The European Union has not decided on such tough measures and will focus on loans for new projects in Russia, writes NYT. Possible measures include stopping financing of new Russian projects by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the European Investment Bank, stopping bilateral cooperation programs and limiting trade relations with Crimea.

Russia will cope with the EU sectoral sanctions, but economic growth will slow down, according to the draft of the main directions of budget policy for 2015-2017: the financial condition of industries and borrowing conditions will worsen, risk premiums will increase, capital outflow will increase, the ruble will weaken, inflation will accelerate and consumer confidence will decrease. According to the Finance Ministry's calculations, tightening sanctions will cost 0.2-0.3% of GDP - $4-6 billion.

The Ministry of Finance underestimates the impact of sanctions: they will cost no less than 1% of GDP and are capable of having a strong impact on confidence in the economy, consumption and the country's investment attractiveness, Morgan Stanley analysts note.

US imposes sanctions against four key Russian companies