US, Allies Announce More Russia Sanctions, Initiative to Prevent Sanctions Evasion
The U.S. on March 24 announced another set of Russia blocking sanctions on more than 400 individuals and entities, including members of the Russian legislature, defense companies and their leadership, and additional Russian elites. The targets are "key enablers of the invasion" of Ukraine, the Treasury Department said, including Herman Gref, CEO of Sberbank and a close Putin associate. Other sanctions target additional bank executives and the entire Russian State Duma, including 328 members who support the war in Ukraine, the State Department said.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Export Compliance Daily combines U.S. export control news, foreign border import regulation and policy developments into a single daily information service that reliably informs its trade professional readers about important current issues affecting their operations.
Along with the sanctions, G-7 leaders and the EU launched a new initiative to better share information and coordinate enforcement against sanctions evasion tactics. "Together, we will not allow sanctions evasion or backfilling," the White House said, adding that the countries plan to push other countries that have not yet sanctioned Russia to do so.
President Joe Biden, speaking from Brussels after meeting with members of the G-7 and North Atlantic Treaty Organization, said "there's a need" for the EU and NATO "to set up a system whereby we have an organization looking at who has violated any of the sanctions and where and when and how they violated," but said "it's not done yet."
Treasury also stressed that it may sanction any company or person that completes transactions with Russia involving gold, a method that could be used to evade Western sanctions, the agency said in a new Frequently Asked Question. U.S. people or companies that process "gold-related transactions" need to take "risk-based steps" to make sure they aren't violating U.S. sanctions, Treasury said, adding that it's "closely monitoring" any dealings in gold or other precious metals.
Biden also said China -- which may still be calculating whether to aid Russia (see 2203220065 and 2203210014) -- knows that it will face harsh sanctions if it steps in. "I made no threats," Biden said of a recent conversation with Chinese President Xi Jinping, "but I made it clear to make sure he understood the consequences of him helping Russia." Biden said he is "hopeful" that China will not violate the sanctions. "We had long discussions in the past about his interest in making sure he has economic relations and economic growth with Europe and the United States," Biden said. "I indicated that he'd be putting himself at significant jeopardy in those aims if in fact he were to move forward."
Biden also spoke with EU leaders about potential European food shortages stemming from the sanctions, which could affect EU imports of wheat from Russia and Ukraine. U.S. and Canadian wheat exporters could replace some of the supply, Biden said, although discussions are still ongoing. "The price of these sanctions is not just imposed upon Russia. It's imposed upon an awful lot of other countries as well," he said. "We are in the process of working out with our European friends what it would take to help alleviate the concerns relative to food shortages."