The move came hours before a landmark Cold War-era arms control treaty expired, after Washington withdrew, accusing Moscow of violating it, which Russia denies.
Washington imposed an initial batch of sanctions last year on Russia after determining that Moscow had used a nerve agent against a former Russian double agent, Sergei Skripal, and his daughter Yulia, in Britain, which Moscow denies.
“After the first round of sanctions in response to Russia’s assassination attempt against a private citizen in the UK, Russia did not provide the assurances required under US law,” said White House spokesman Hogan Gidley.
“So we are imposing a second round of sanctions. It’s another instance where we’re proving tougher on Russia than previous administrations.”
Skripal, a former colonel in Russia’s GRU military intelligence service, and his daughter were found slumped on a bench in the southern English city of Salisbury in March last year after Novichok nerve agent was smeared on his front door.
The White House said on Friday that President Trump had signed an executive order, under which the US government would block international financial institutions such as the World Bank from lending to governments subject to US sanctions for using chemical or nuclear weapons.
The Russian rouble dipped to 65 versus the dollar on Friday for the first time in seven weeks, a fall analysts said could partly be attributed to the reported sanctions move.
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