WASHINGTON: The United States on Wednesday issued hundreds of fresh sanctions targeting Russia over the war in Ukraine in action that took aim at Moscow’s circumvention of Western measures, including through China.
The U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on nearly 200 targets and the State Department designated more than 80 in one of the most wide-ranging actions against Chinese companies so far in Washington’s sanctions aimed at Russia.
The U.S. imposed sanctions on 20 companies based in China and Hong Kong, following repeated warnings from Washington about China’s support for Russia’s military, including during recent trips by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to the country.
The new US sanctions package includes companies from Azerbaijan, Belgium, China, Slovakia, Turkey and the UAE
Washington explained the introduction of restrictions against them by the fact that they help Moscow circumvent sanctions and purchase equipment abroad. pic.twitter.com/f3NPKbXOIB
— S p r i n t e r F a c t o r y (@Sprinterfactory) May 1, 2024
China’s support for Russia is one of the many issues threatening to sour the recent improvement in relations between the world’s biggest economies.
“Treasury has consistently warned that companies will face significant consequences for providing material support for Russia’s war, and the U.S. is imposing them today on almost 300 targets,” Yellen said in a statement.
Russia’s embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Liu Pengyu, spokesperson for China’s embassy in Washington, said the government oversees the export of dual-use articles in accordance with laws and regulations, adding that normal trade and economic interactions between China and Russia are in line with World Trade Organization rules and market principles. “The Chinese side firmly opposes the US’s illegal unilateral sanctions,” he said.
China strongly opposes #US move of exacerbating #Russia–#Ukraine tensions while shifting blames to #China, said Chinese FM spokesperson Wang Wenbin on Tue, responding to reports of US drafting new sanctions aimed at severing ties between some Chinese banks and the global… pic.twitter.com/kUJOVrPETR
— Global Times (@globaltimesnews) April 23, 2024
The United States and its allies have imposed sanctions on thousands of targets since Russia invaded neighboring Ukraine. The war has seen tens of thousands killed and cities destroyed.
Washington has since sought to crack down on evasion of the Western measures, including by issuing sanctions on firms in China, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.
Treasury’s action on Wednesday sanctioned nearly 60 targets located in Azerbaijan, Belgium, China, Russia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Slovakia which reportedly enabled Russia to “acquire desperately-needed technology and equipment from abroad.”
The move included measures against a China-based company Treasury said exported items for the production of drones – such as propellers, engines and sensors – to a company in Russia. Other China and Hong Kong-based technology suppliers were also targeted.
The State Department also imposed sanctions on four China-based companies it accused of supporting Russia’s defense industrial base, including by shipping critical items to entities under U.S. sanctions in Russia, as well as companies in Turkey, Kyrgyzstan and Malaysia that it accused of shipping high priority items to Russia.
“The concern about entities in the PRC supplying Russia’s war is in focus at the highest levels of the Department and the administration. The reason is very simple: the PRC is the leading supplier of critical components for Russia’s defense industrial base, and Russia is using them to prosecute its war on Ukraine,” a senior State Department official said.
“If the PRC were to end its support for exporting these items, Russia would struggle to sustain its war effort.”
The U.S. also accused Russia of violating a global ban on chemical weapons.
☝️ “Under what pretext was Yugoslavia bombed? Was it Security Council sanction?
Under what pretext did they enter Iraq? They destroyed the country and then said: «Our intelligence let us down».
They just do whatever they want” – President Putin pic.twitter.com/s5aD7hqYP6— 🇷🇺Russia is not Enemy (@RussiaIsntEnemy) May 1, 2024
The State Department also expanded its targeting of Russia’s future ability to ship liquefied natural gas, or LNG, one of the country’s top exports.
It designated two vessel operators involved in transporting technology including gravity based structure equipment, or concrete legs that support offshore platforms, for Russia’s Arctic LNG 2 project.
Washington also imposed sanctions on Russian air carrier Pobeda, a subsidiary of Russian airline Aeroflot.
The U.S. Commerce Department has previously added more than 200 Boeing and Airbus airplanes operated by Russian airlines to an export control list as part of the Biden administration’s sanctions over the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The State Department also targeted three people in connection to the death of late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, the best known domestic critic of President Vladimir Putin, who died in February in a Russian Arctic prison.
(REUTERS)
