The Trump administration on Wednesday imposed
sanctions on a Moscow-based private railway company that last month opened passenger service between
Russia and Crimea, a Ukrainian peninsula that Russia annexed in 2014.
The sanctions target Grand Service Express, its CEO and seven people who were slapped with
European Union sanctions earlier in the week for their role in organizing
Russian local
elections on Crimea in September.
The EU and the U.S. imposed economic sanctions on Russia after the annexation and refuse to recognize Moscow’s authority over the region.