By Simon Lewis
(Reuters) – The United States on Friday imposed sanctions on more than 400 entities and individuals for supporting Russia’s war effort in Ukraine, the State Department said, including Chinese firms that U.S. officials believe are helping Moscow to skirt Western sanctions and build up its military.
Washington has repeatedly warned Beijing over its support for Russia’s defense industrial base and has already issued hundreds of sanctions aimed at restricting Moscow’s ability to exploit certain technologies for military purposes.
Friday’s sanctions include measures against companies in China involved in shipping machine tools and microelectronics to Russia, according to a State Department fact sheet outlining its sanctions against 190 targets. The Treasury Department was imposing the remaining sanctions, an official said.
The State Department’s sanctions include moves aimed at stifling Russia’s energy sector and against companies in Turkey, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Central Asian economies that the U.S. believes are helping Russia evade sanctions, the State Department said.
“Today’s actions hit Russia where it hurts – degrading its ability to generate revenue through its energy projects and disrupting its acquisition of materiel to supply its war machine,” said Aaron Forsberg, the State Department’s director for economic sanctions policy and implementation.
After seizing Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of its neighbor in 2022, triggering a host of new U.S. economic sanctions on Moscow.
The war escalated on Aug. 6 when Ukraine sent thousands of soldiers over the border into Russia’s western Kursk region. Kyiv has since announced a string of battlefield successes, but Russian forces continue to steadily inch forward in eastern Ukraine, pressuring troops worn down by 2-1/2 years of fighting.
Friday’s sanctions targets include the import-export arm of China’s Dalian Machine Tool Group, which the State Department said had supplied $4 million of dual-use items to Russian companies.
China says it has not provided weaponry to Russia for the war in Ukraine, but defends what it calls normal trade between China and Russia.
The latest U.S. sanctions include measures against firms supplying components used in the Orlan drones that Russia is using in Ukraine.
Washington also sought with the sanctions to disrupt future energy projects in Russia and its shipment of liquefied (LNG). It targeted Russia’s $21 billion Arctic LNG 2 project, which has already been hit by Western sanctions that have curbed its access to ice-class tankers, and other companies involved in future energy projects in Russia, according to the fact sheet.
The sanctions also targeted companies involved in the shipments, like UAE-based White Fox Ship Management, which the U.S. says recently acquired four tankers to ship LNG.
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