UPDATE: US slaps sanctions on 200 Russia-related firms, 23 people

(Rewrites story)

WASHINGTON, Dec 12 (PRIME) -- The U.S. has spread the Russia-related blacklist to more than 200 companies operating in various sectors of the economy and countries, the Department of the Treasury said on Tuesday.

The sanctions were also slapped on 23 people and three sea ships.

The largest Russia-based companies were Gazprom Linde Engineering, gold producer Highland Gold, Expobank and Kismet Consulting. Vladislav Sviblov, Ivan Tavrin; Alexandr Potapov, Uralvagonzavod CEO; CEO of Concern Radio-Electronic Technologies (KRET) Alexander Pan were on the list.

Companies from Russia, China, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, the U.K., the Maldives; operating in the processing industry, the financial sector, mining, development and media were put on the list.

Canada expanded the blacklist of Russia-related people and entities on Tuesday by including 30 people, the government of the country said.

The people were nominated to run in elections for different posts of state officials on "the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine."

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