The moves by the U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control will "effectively immobilize" any Russian central bank assets held in the U.S. or by U.S. nationals, according to a Treasury department statement.

According to the Treasury release, the U.S. also announced new penalties on a key Russian sovereign wealth fund, the Russian Direct Investment Fund, and its Chief Executive Officer, Kirill Aleksandrovich Dmitriev, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The announcements marked the latest blow in the West's financial retaliation against Russia following Putin's invasion of Ukraine and are designed to shake an already staggering Russian financial system.

"The unprecedented action we are taking today will significantly limit Russia's ability to use assets to finance its destabilizing activities, and target the funds Putin and his inner circle depend on to enable his invasion of Ukraine," Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a statement.