United States is set to impose a series of economic sanctions on Russia as multilateral tensions involving Ukraine remain high. These penalties will have a “start high, stay high” approach and will put Kremlin’s crucial financial priorities in the crosshairs, media reports suggest citing officials.

Officials told CNN that the sanctions, if imposed, are likely to have “severe and overwhelming costs” on the Russian economy.

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The sanctions would place Russia in the same category as North Korea, Cuba, Syria and Iran, at least in terms of export control purposes. The sanctions are further expected to tightly grip the industrial operations and employment of Russia, according to CNN reports citing unnamed sources.

Russia’s technological sector can also be one of the many victims of the possible sanctions, in addition to civil aviation and defense, the CNN reports explained. The administration of United States President Joe Biden is also looking at the possibility of restricting the export of microelectronics.

That would mean that Russia’s ability to obtain integrated circuits, and products containing integrated circuits, would be severely restricted, because of the global dominance of United States software, technology and equipment in this sector.

The consequences of the restrictions may extend to smartphones, aircraft avionics, televisions, machine tools and gaming consoles, according to reports from Associated Press. 

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The comments came as senior United States and Russian officials prepare to diplomatically engage in Switzerland on Monday amid heightened tensions over Ukraine.

The officials said the United States is willing to discuss certain, limited aspects of its European security posture in those talks. But they stressed that any agreements would be contingent on Russia removing threats to Ukraine and that no decisions would be made without the consent of Ukraine or NATO, according to reports from Associated Press.

(With AP inputs)