US issues sweeping sanctions targeting Russia over Ukraine war
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[December 13, 2023]
By Daphne Psaledakis, Simon Lewis and Timothy Gardner
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The United States on Tuesday imposed sanctions on
hundreds of people and entities, including in China, Turkey and the
United Arab Emirates, as it targets Russia's sanctions evasion, future
energy capabilities, banks and its metals and mining sector.
The U.S. 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 U.S.
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," U.S. 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 U.S. sanctions and Chinese
controls on the export of military-related materials.
It also targeted Turkey, United Arab Emirates 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 firm 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 U.S.
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 it, the
European Union and other Western nations have imposed on Moscow over its
invasion of Ukraine.
"The anti-Russian steps announced today ... are nothing more than an
attempt to put a good face on a bad game," Russia's envoy to the United
States, Anatoly Antonov, said in comments posted on the Russian embassy
Telegram messaging app. "Nothing will help Zelenskiy. But the Americans
risk getting even more bogged down in the quagmire of the Ukrainian
conflict."
Liu Pengyu, spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington, said
China regulates military and dual-use exports responsibly and opposes
the United States' use of sanctions, which he called "unilateral" and
"illegal."
"We firmly oppose the U.S. side sanctioning relevant companies under
groundless pretext," Liu said in an emailed response to questions about
Tuesday's sanctions.
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.
A Turkish official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters
that while Turkey only imposed sanctions endorsed by the United Nations
Security Council and opposed unilateral measures, Ankara took measures
to minimize any circumvention of sanctions.
"Strict monitoring and prevention of efforts to skirt sanctions through
Turkey is an integral part of our non-abidance policy," the official
said, and added the Turkish financial and commercial sector dealt
primarily with Western markets.
"Inevitably, there are evasion attempts by obscure and insignificant
entities that are uneducated about or indifferent to sanctions," the
person said. "Such entities will unavoidably incur the consequences of
unilateral restrictive measures."
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A local resident stands next to a crater at a site of a Russian
missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine
December 11, 2023. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko/File Photo
Turkish authorities are taking regulatory actions if the
circumventions amount to a pattern breaching Turkey's policy, the
official told Reuters.
FUTURE ENERGY
The U.S. targeted three companies developing the Ust-Luga liquefied
natural gas (LNG) terminal, a facility at a Baltic seaport in
northwest 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 and 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 Limited Liability
Company Northern Technologies, Joint Stock Company Kazan Compressor
Machinery Plant, and Limited Liability Company Gazprom Linde
Engineering.
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 U.S. is the world's largest LNG exporter. German
company Linde stopped work at Ust-Luga in 2022 due to Western
sanctions. This year 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 State Department also targeted Russian businessman Vladislav
Sviblov and Highland Gold Mining Ltd, a UK-registered company owned
and controlled by him that it said is Russia’s seventh-largest gold
producer, as well as other companies connected to Sviblov following
action Britain took in November.
A representative for 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.
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 defense-related and industrial
technology, including drones.
The State Department also listed former telecoms CEO Ivan Tavrin and
a network of companies he runs. It said 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 Tavrin, did not immediately
respond to a request for comment on the sanctions. New Towers, one
of the companies in Tavrin's empire, declined to comment.
(Reporting by Daphne Psaledakis, Simon Lewis, Timothy Gardner,
Michael Martina, Susan Heavey and Doina Chiacu in Washington,
Vladimir Soldatkin in Moscow, Alexander Marrow in London, Maha El
Dahan in Dubai, Tuvan Gumrukcu in Ankara and Lidia Kelly in
Melbourne; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Gerry Doyle)
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