US announces new sanctions on Russia

RT
Fri, 23 Aug 2024 20:24 UTC

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Defense Minister Andrey Belousov's son was among the blacklisted persons and entities.

The US government has sanctioned almost 400 individuals and companies in Russia and around the world, including Russian Defense Minister Andrey Belousov's son and his wife.

Departments of State and Treasury announced the measure on Friday, on the eve of Ukraine's independence day, to signal Washington's ongoing support to Kiev in the conflict with Moscow. The sanctions also extended to entities and individuals in Asia, Europe and the Middle East.

In keeping with the practice of sanctioning family members of Russian officials, the US has blacklisted Pavel Belousov and his wife Yevgenya, as well as a consulting company in their ownership. Belousov's father Andrey became the Russian defense minister in May.

Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said in a statement:

"Companies, financial institutions, and governments around the world need to ensure they are not supporting Russia's military-industrial supply chains."

According to the Treasury, there are "almost a dozen distinct networks" consisting of over 100 individuals and entities across 16 jurisdictions, including China, Switzerland, Türkiye, and the United Arab Emirates. Notably, 18 companies based in Hong Kong have been accused of ties to the Russian military industry.

Treasury and State also warned financial institutions in other countries to "be cautious about any dealings with overseas branches or subsidiaries of Russian financial institutions," including those that have not yet been sanctioned.

Friday's designations mean that any property or interests in property of the listed individuals, directly or indirectly, have been blocked and must be reported to the government. Any transactions between US citizens - or foreign nationals within the US - are forbidden.

Washington and its allies have placed over 22,000 sanctions on Russia since 2014, when Moscow responded to the US-backed coup in Kiev by welcoming Crimea's reunification.

Russia has called the blacklist illegitimate and responded with travel bans for Western officials and activists.

Comment: 22K sanctions on Russia since 2014...quite the track record for this one-trick pony.
In addition:

The US Treasury Department has claimed that Moscow's financial institutions evade sanctions by opening subsidiaries in third countries.

Nations which maintain economic ties with Russia risk secondary sanctions if they allow Russian banks to open local branches to facilitate bilateral trade, the US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) stated on Friday.

The measures are aimed at closing workarounds.

The department urged foreign regulators and financial institutions to be "cautious about any dealings with overseas branches or subsidiaries" of Russian banks, including efforts to set up new branches or subsidiaries, having warned that it has a range of tools to target "the establishment of new evasion channels." The measure is aimed at Russian banks that are not sanctioned yet.

Last December, US President Joe Biden ordered the introduction of so-called secondary sanctions against financial institutions that allegedly support Russia's defense sector. At the time, the US administration blacklisted over 4,500 Russian entities in an effort to force foreign lenders not to work with them.

In June, the White House expanded the scope of the crackdown on foreign banks that do business in Russia, targeting any such institution that works with any sanctioned entity in the country with the updated policy. At the same time, the US imposed sanctions on the subsidiaries of VTB, Sberbank, Promsvyazbank and Vnesheconombank in China, Kyrgyzstan and India.

Last week, Washington announced additional restrictions against 400 individuals and companies in Russia, Asia, Europe and the Middle East, accusing them of supporting Moscow's military-industrial supply chains.

Russia's Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov said that the sanctions are fruitless and continue to harm US domestic consumers, as well as America's partners in third countries.