US imposes sanctions on 400 more targets for supporting Russia’s war effort, by Reuters

By Simon Lewis and David Lawder

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States imposed sanctions on more than 400 entities and individuals on Friday for supporting Russia’s war effort in Ukraine, the State Department said, including Chinese firms that U.S. officials believe are helping Moscow avoid Western sanctions and develop. military.

Washington has repeatedly warned Beijing about its support for Russia’s defense industrial base and has already issued hundreds of sanctions aimed at restricting Moscow’s ability to exploit certain technologies for military purposes.

Friday’s sanctions include measures against Chinese companies involved in shipping machine tools and microelectronics to Russia, according to a State Department fact sheet outlining the sanctions against 190 targets.

The US Treasury Department said it is also targeting transnational networks involved in procuring ammunition and other materials for Russia, helping Russian oligarchs and others avoid sanctions and laundering gold for a sanctioned company.

“Russia has turned its economy into a tool in the service of the Kremlin’s military industrial complex,” Assistant Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo was quoted as saying in the statement.

“Companies, financial institutions and governments around the world must ensure they do not support Russia’s military-industrial supply chains.”

The Biden administration also added 123 entities to its US export control list, known as the Entity List, which requires supplies to obtain licenses before shipping to targeted companies. Those added Friday included 63 entities from Russia and 42 from China, according to an announcement in the Federal Register.

The Russian Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the new sanctions.

After seizing Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of its neighbor in 2022, triggering a series of new US economic sanctions against Moscow.

The war escalated on August 6 when Ukraine sent thousands of troops across the border into Russia’s western Kursk region. Kiev has since announced a number of battlefield successes, but Russian forces continue to advance steadily in eastern Ukraine.

The US Treasury said it was imposing sanctions on several Russian financial technology, securities, real estate lending and other financial firms.

The State Department sanctions include measures aimed at stifling Russia’s energy sector and against companies in Turkey, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Central Asian economies that the US believes are helping Russia evade sanctions, the State Department said.

“Today’s actions hit Russia where it hurts — degrading its ability to generate revenue through its energy projects and disrupting the procurement of materials to supply its war machine,” said Aaron Forsberg, director of sanctions policy and implementation. economy of the State Department.

The targets include the import-export subsidiary of China’s Dalian Machine Tool Group, which the State Department said supplied $4 million in dual-use items to Russian companies.

The Treasury also targeted more than 20 firms in Hong Kong and China that it said supply Russia’s military industrial base.

China’s embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

China says it has not supplied Russia with weapons for the war in Ukraine, but defends what it calls normal trade between China and Russia.

The latest US sanctions include measures against firms that supply components used in Orlan drones that Russia uses in Ukraine.

Washington has also sought through sanctions to disrupt future Russian energy projects and its liquefied natural gas (LNG) transport. It targeted Russia’s $21 billion Arctic LNG 2 project, which has already been hit by Western sanctions that have restricted its access to ice tanks, and other companies involved in future energy projects in Russia, according to the fact sheet .

The sanctions also targeted companies involved in shipping, such as White Fox Ship Management, based in the United Arab Emirates, which the US says recently purchased four tankers to carry LNG.