In December 2016, after the U.S. intelligence community revealed that Russia had significantly interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, the Obama administration sanctioned four Russian individuals and five Russian entities.  Citing "significant malicious cyber-enabled activities," the administration also expelled 35 Russians from America, and closed two Russian compounds.  In a statement, President Obama said, "These actions follow repeated private and public warnings that we have issued to the Russian government and are a necessary and appropriate response to efforts to harm U.S. interests in violation of established international norms of behavior."

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Donald Trump did not seem to share President Obama's concern, saying that it was "time for our country to move on to bigger and better things.”  However, in July 2017 the United States Congress forced Trump's hand, passing legislation (with a veto-proof majority) that severely limited his power to suspend or lift sanctions on Russia.  Trump wasn't happy about this, saying that not only was the legislation "significantly flawed" but that it "included a number of clearly unconstitutional provisions." 

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Eight months later, in March 2018, the Trump administration finally levied sanctions against five Russian entities and 19 Russian individuals.  A month after that, the United States levied additional sanctions, this time against "seven Russian oligarchs and 12 companies they own or control, 17 senior Russian government officials, and a state-owned Russian weapons trading company and its subsidiary, a Russian bank."  Those targeted included Vladimir Putin's son-in-law; the chairman of Russia's largest company, Gazprom; and others in Putin's inner circle.  

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According to the U.S. Treasury Department, "All assets subject to U.S. jurisdiction of the designated individuals and entities, and of any other entities blocked by operation of law as a result of their ownership by a sanctioned party, are frozen, and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from dealings with them.  Additionally, non-U.S. persons could face sanctions for knowingly facilitating significant transactions for or on behalf of the individuals or entities blocked today."

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The Trump administration issued a statement that said:  “The Russian government operates for the disproportionate benefit of oligarchs and government elites.  The Russian government engages in a range of malign activity around the globe, including continuing to occupy Crimea and instigate violence in eastern Ukraine, supplying the Assad regime with material and weaponry as they bomb their own civilians, attempting to subvert Western democracies, and malicious cyber activities.  Russian oligarchs and elites who profit from this corrupt system will no longer be insulated from the consequences of their government’s destabilizing activities.”

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In August 2018, yet another round of sanctions against Russia was announced, these in direct response to a nerve-agent attack against a former Russian spy, Sergei Skripal, and his daughter.  And in September 2018, the U.S. levied sanctions on the Chinese military for buying fighter jets and missile systems from Rosoboronexport, Russia’s main arms exporter.   

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All in all, "the United States has imposed sanctions on Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine, election interference, other malicious cyber activities, human rights abuses, use of a chemical weapon, weapons proliferation, illicit trade with North Korea, and support to Syria and Venezuela."

 

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Evidence:

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United States.  White House.  "Statement by the President on Actions in Response to Russian Malicious Cyber Activity and Harassment."  29 Dec 2016  

Nolan McCaskill.  "Trump: It's Time 'To Move On' From Claims of Russian Interference in Election."  Politico.  29 Dec 2016 

United States.  Congress.  "Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act."  H.R. 3364.  115th Congress.  2 Aug 2017

United States.  White House.  "Statement by President Donald J. Trump on the Signing of H.R. 3364."  2 Aug 2017

United States.  Department of the Treasury.  "Treasury Designates Russian Oligarchs, Officials, and Entities in Response to Worldwide Malign Activity."  6
   April 2018

Gary Clyde Hufbauer, Jeffrey J. Schott, Kimberly Ann Elliott and Barbara Oegg.  "Economic Sanctions Reconsidered, 3rd Edition."  Peterson Institute for
   International Economics.  June 2009

Lesley Wroughton and Patricia Zengerle.  "U.S. Sanctions China for Buying Russian Fighter Jets, Missiles."  Reuters.  20 Sept 2018

United States.  Congressional Research Service.  "U.S. Sanctions on Russia: An Overview."  23 Mar 2020

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