U.S. announces another package of Russia sanctions
Targeting Russia’s key sectors, evasion efforts, and military supplies, the U.S. Treasury has expanded and intensified sanctions against Russia.
That’s according to the relevant press release, seen by Ukrinform.
“Today, one year after the Russian Federation launched its unprovoked war against Ukraine, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is taking significant action to diminish Russia’s ability to continue its brutal war and to procure the resources used to support it,” the statement reads.
In one of its most significant sanctions actions to date, Treasury is announcing a new determination targeting Russia’s metals and mining sector and is also imposing sanctions on 22 individuals and 83 entities.
The move, coordinated with allies and G7 partners, “further isolates Russia from the international economy and hinders Russia’s ability to obtain the capital, materials, technology, and support that sustain its war against Ukraine, which has killed thousands and displaced millions of people.”
Additionally, as Russia searches for ways to evade sanctions and export controls, the U.S. government is ramping up efforts to counter such evasion around the world. Today’s action includes designations of over 30 third-country individuals and companies connected to Russia’s sanctions evasion efforts, including those related to arms trafficking and illicit finance.
OFAC is designating over a dozen financial institutions in Russia, including one of the top-ten largest banks by asset value. Sanctioned actors have been known to turn to smaller banks as well as wealth-management firms in an attempt to evade sanctions as Russia seeks new ways to access the international financial system.
“Over the past year, we have taken actions with a historic coalition of international partners to degrade Russia’s military-industrial complex and reduce the revenues that it uses to fund its war. Our sanctions have had both short-term and long-term impact, seen acutely in Russia’s struggle to replenish its weapons and in its isolated economy. Our actions today with our G7 partners show that we will stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes,” said Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen.
Dozens of entities and individuals being sanctioned today operate in industries that ultimately support Russia’s war against Ukraine. This includes firms that produce or import specialized, high-technology equipment used by Russian defense entities and companies that make advanced materials used in Russian weapons systems.
The United States and its allies have imposed sweeping sanctions, export controls, and other measures following the start of Russia’s war against Ukraine. Since February 2022, Treasury has implemented more than 2,500 sanctions in response to Russia’s war of choice. The unprecedented costs imposed on Russia have been closely coordinated with allies and partners, with more than 30 countries having imposed sanctions or similar measures against Russia following the launch of its war.
The latest sanctions package covers Russia’s financial services sector, including Credit Bank of Moscow Public Joint Stock Company, one of Russia’s ten largest banks by asset value, and a number of other banks and financial institutions, wealth management-related entities and individuals
The U.S. states that Russian intelligence services have been directed to find channels for evasion and backfilling, therefore the U.S. Treasury “will continue to impose sanctions on actors inside and outside of Russia that circumvent sanctions and enable Russia to procure resources critical to enabling Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine” and is imposing sanctions on the a number of entities and individuals for their roles in sanctions evasion efforts.
Also designated is an arms dealer supporting Russia and Belarus and a Russian elite-linked businessman tied to illicit financial activity.
Russia’s military supply chains have also been targeted. “Treasury will continue to designate Russian Federation persons connected to Russia’s defense industries to degrade Putin’s ability to wage war against Ukraine or against any other country in the future,” the statement says.
Designations are related to Russian entities that produce carbon fiber and related advanced materials for Russia’s war machine, entities that operate in Russia’s aerospace sector, persons operating in Russia’s technology and electronics sectors, and other entities supporting Russia’s war against Ukraine.
The new batch also covers Russia’s metals and mining sector.
As Ukrinform reported earlier, the European Union is set to investigate growing exports to countries that are Russia's neighbors, believing that this way, suppliers may be circumventing Western sanctions.