US issues sweeping sanctions targeting Russia over Ukraine war
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US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States would continue to promote accountability for Russia’s crimes in Ukraine.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
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WASHINGTON – The United States on Dec 12 imposed sanctions on hundreds of people and entities, including in China, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), as it targets Russia’s sanctions evasion, future energy capabilities, banks, and metals and mining sector.
The US Treasury and State departments targeted more than 250 individuals and entities in Washington’s latest action attempting to crack down on Russia and its evasion of sanctions imposed by the US and its allies over the war in Ukraine.
“We will continue to use the tools at our disposal to promote accountability for Russia’s crimes in Ukraine and those who finance and support Russia’s war machine,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.
The Treasury said it imposed sanctions on a network of four entities and nine people based in China, Russia, Hong Kong and Pakistan over the facilitation and procurement of Chinese-manufactured weapons and technologies to Russia.
It said the network sought to circumvent US sanctions and Chinese controls on the export of military-related materials.
It also targeted Turkey, the UAE and China-based companies over the shipment of technology, equipment and inputs, including ball or roller bearings, aircraft parts and X-ray systems.
The China-based firms targeted included commercial satellite imagery companies that Treasury said provided high-resolution observation imagery to Russian mercenary group Wagner.
The State Department also targeted Chinese entities in an action against a network it said was involved in procuring microelectronic components for Russian state conglomerate Rostec, which itself is under US sanctions.
It said the microelectronics were being used to develop electronic warfare systems. Companies in Russia, Turkey and Hong Kong were also targeted as part of action against the network.
Washington has stepped up diplomatic pressure on countries and private companies globally to ensure enforcement of the sanctions that the US, other Western nations and the European Union have imposed on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.
Russia’s embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Russia dismisses Western sanctions as illegal, and says they will not impede the development of its economy.
Mr Liu Pengyu, spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, said China regulates military and dual-use exports responsibly and opposes the US’ use of sanctions, which he called “unilateral” and “illegal”.
“(W)e firmly oppose the US side sanctioning relevant companies under groundless pretext,” Mr Liu said in an e-mailed response to questions about the Dec 12 sanctions.
A crater caused by a Russian missile strike in Ukraine’s Kyiv region on Dec 11.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
UAE’s embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Its Foreign Ministry did not immediately reply to a request outside usual working hours.
Turkey’s Foreign Ministry did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
Future energy
The US targeted three companies developing the Ust-Luga liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal, a facility at a Baltic seaport in north-west Russia to be operated by Gazprom and RusGazDobycha.
The yet-to-be-built complex is part of Gazprom’s strategy to shift focus to processing. It is poised to become Russia’s largest gas processing plant and one of the world’s largest in terms of production volumes.
The sanctions were put on Russian-based companies Northern Technologies, Kazan Compressor Machinery Plant, and Gazprom Linde Engineering.
Local residents near their apartment building and cars damaged during a Russian missile strike, in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on Dec 8.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Washington is seeking to interfere with Russia’s future energy production and fuel export capacity.
The move came a little over a month after Washington put sanctions on an entity developing another LNG project, Arctic-2 LNG in Siberia.
It was not immediately clear how Russia’s future LNG exports would be affected. The US is the world’s largest LNG exporter.
German company Linde stopped work at Ust-Luga in 2022 because of Western sanctions. In 2023, Russia has been talking with China to involve Chinese companies in construction of the plant.
Gazprom did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
The US State Department also targeted Russian businessman Vladislav Sviblov and Highland Gold Mining, a British-registered company owned and controlled by Mr Sviblov that it said is Russia’s seventh-largest gold producer, and other companies connected to Mr Sviblov following action Britain took in November.
A representative for Mr Sviblov declined to comment.
The State Department also designated three shipping companies and three Russian-flagged commercial vessels it said have been used to transfer munitions between North Korea and Russia.
North Korea’s mission to the United Nations in New York did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
Ukrainian soldiers firing towards Russian positions near Bakhmut, in eastern Ukraine, in November 2023.
PHOTO: NYTIMES
Washington also targeted four Russian financial institutions – including Expobank, the proposed buyer of HSBC’s Russian business – and dozens of Russia-based entities involved in the import, production, modification and sale of defence-related and industrial technology, including drones.
The State Department also listed former telecommunications chief executive Ivan Tavrin and a network of companies he runs. It said Mr Tavrin “has become one of Russia’s biggest wartime dealmakers since the beginning of Russia’s illegal war against Ukraine.”
A representative for Kismet, owned by Mr Tavrin, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the sanctions. New Towers, one of the companies in Mr Tavrin’s empire, declined to comment. REUTERS
