US sanctions 400 additional targets for helping Russia's war efforts
The State Department announced that the United States imposed sanctions Friday on more than 400 individuals and entities for supporting Russia's military effort in Ukraine. This included Chinese firms, which U.S. officials believed were helping Moscow skirt Western sanctions while building up its military.
Washington has warned Beijing repeatedly over its support of Russia's defence industrial base. It has also issued hundreds sanctions to limit Moscow's capability to exploit certain technologies in military applications.
According to a State Department document outlining the sanctions it has taken against 190 targets, Friday's measures include sanctions against Chinese companies involved in shipping microelectronics and machine tools to Russia. An official confirmed that the Treasury Department would be imposing any remaining sanctions.
State Department sanctions include measures aimed at stifling Russia’s energy sector, as well as against companies in Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. The U.S. believes that these companies are helping Russia to evade sanctions.
Aaron Forsberg is the State Department director of economic sanctions policy.
In 2022, after seizing Crimea in 2014 from Ukraine, Russia launched an invasion on a large scale of its neighbor, which triggered a new wave of U.S. sanctions against Moscow.
On August 6, Ukraine sent thousands soldiers across the border to Russia's west Kursk region. Kyiv has announced a series of battlefield victories, but Russian forces have continued to press forward in eastern Ukraine despite the troops' fatigued state after two-and-a half years of combat.
The State Department has said that the Dalian Machine Tool Group import-export division of China supplied $4 million worth of dual-use products to Russian companies.
China claims it did not provide Russia with weapons for the war in Ukraine but defends normal trade between China & Russia.
The new U.S. sanctions target firms that supply components for the Orlan drones, which Russia uses in Ukraine.
Washington also aimed to disrupt future energy plans in Russia, as well as its LNG shipment. The fact sheet said that the sanctions were aimed at Russia's Arctic LNG 2 project worth $21 billion, which had already been affected by Western sanctions, which have restricted its access to ice class tankers.
The sanctions targeted other companies that were involved in the LNG shipments. For example, the U.S. claims that White Fox Ship Management of the UAE recently purchased four LNG tankers. (Reporting and editing by Jamie Freed; Simon Lewis)
(source: Reuters)
