The U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on November 2 on 130 entities and people from Turkey, China, and the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.) that it says are providing Russia with technology and equipment from third countries needed to fight its war against Ukraine.
The sanctions also take aim at Russia’s domestic industrial base, which the department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said in a news release is “seeking to reinvent itself as the maintainer of Russia’s war machine.”
The Treasury Department said the sanction designations continue its efforts to “disrupt the networks and channels through which Russia attempts to sustain its beleaguered military.”
In addition, the State Department imposed diplomatic sanctions on more than 90 entities and individuals that it said have engaged in sanctions evasion and "those complicit in furthering Russia’s ability to wage its war against Ukraine."
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the State Department's actions target Russia’s future energy capabilities, "which will limit Moscow’s ability to funnel future revenues toward its destructive aims."
Among the 130 designated for sanctions by the OFAC are Turkish national Berk Turken and two companies he owns, which the OFAC said have been involved in enabling Russian intelligence services to procure technology for sanctioned Russian entities. Turken's network arranged payments and shipping details designed to “overcome sanctions barriers” and move goods from Turkey to Russia, OFAC said.
One of Turken’s two companies, Turken Digital, worked with the company TBS, based in Moscow, and Andrei Timoshin to arrange payment and shipping details, OFAC said. TBS is a technology company that provides testing systems for the microelectronic industry. OFAC said Russia’s intelligence services have used TBS to enable payments and ship equipment on behalf of Russian customers.
A series of U.A.E.-based firms alleged to have shipped aviation equipment, machines for data reception, and other equipment were also sanctioned. In addition, the U.A.E.-based ARX Financial Engineering was sanctioned for allegedly being involved in finding ways for Russian rubles to be sent from the sanctioned Russian VTB Bank and converted to U.S. dollars.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Russia “is dependent on willing third-country individuals and entities to resupply its military and perpetuate its heinous war against Ukraine and we will not hesitate in holding them accountable.”
“Our global sanctions coalition has choked off Russia’s access to key inputs for its military industrial complex and has undermined the Kremlin’s ability to wage its unprovoked war," she said in the Treasury Department's statement.
The sanctions freeze any U.S.-based assets owned or controlled by the individuals and entities. They also block financial transactions with those designated and prohibit the contribution of funds, goods, and services to them.
The latest sanctions build on other rounds of sanctions, visa bans, and financial penalties imposed on Russian businesses and individuals, banks, and oligarchs since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Along with imposing sanctions, the United States and its European allies have frozen Russian Central Bank funds, restricted Russian banks’ access to the main system for global financial transactions, and imposed a $60-per-barrel price cap on Russian oil and diesel.