The United States announced on Wednesday that it is sanctioning hundreds of so-called “third party enablers” that facilitate the evasion of sanctions placed on Russia for its launching of an all out war with Ukraine in February 2022.
A total of 400 entities and individuals, including 120 sanctioned by the State Department, 270 by Treasury and 40 from the Commerce Department, were listed.
The sanctions’ targets include entities and individuals in China, India, Malaysia, Thailand, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, the statement said. The US Treasury Department said its list spanned 17 jurisdictions and included China, Switzerland, Thailand and Turkey.
Several senior Russian Defence Ministry officials, appointed earlier this year, are also on the list, as are Russia’s military-industrial base, including military repair facilities, producers of advanced technologies, and entities supporting Russia’s defence relationship with Belarus. The US also reissued sanctions on Rosatom, Russia’s state-owned atomic energy corporation.
“The United States and our allies will continue to take decisive action across the globe to stop the flow of critical tools and technologies that Russia needs to wage its illegal and immoral war against Ukraine,” said Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo.
The State Department added that the US “will continue to use all tools at its disposal to disrupt support for Russia’s military-industrial base and curtail the Kremlin’s ability to exploit the international financial system and generate revenue in furtherance of its war against Ukraine,” the statement said.
“We continue to stand in solidarity with Ukraine in defending its homeland from Russia’s aggression.”
The US wants to disrupt supply chains by which Russia gets technology and equipment for its war against Ukraine. These sanctions target producers, exporters and importers of “items critical to Russia’s military-industrial base,” the statement said.
The action targets so-called “dual-use good” which are components that can have both a civilian and military use.
Washington cited Beijing’s use of “sanctions evasion” to circumvent networks so Russia can import goods needed to produce weapons.
Imports from China “fill critical gaps in Russia’s defense production cycle, thereby enabling it to produce weapons, ramp up defense production, and bolster its military-industrial base.”
The State Department also said that Russia is continuing to use third-country companies to illegally procure US and EU export-controlled electronic components.
“Russia has continued to build sanctions evasion and circumvention networks to procure aviation and microelectronic components in an effort to sustain its military industrial base and aviation industry, to include expropriated U.S. and European aircraft,” the statement said.
Another target are companies in the UAE, who the US said are helping Russia with its critical shortage of tankers for Moscow’s liquefied natural gas project, Arctic LNG 2.
Wednesday’s action adds to sanctions on an UAE-based company that manages four blocked LNG carriers that the US says has carried LNG from Russia’s Yamal and Arctic LNG 2 projects.