US Issues Hundreds of New Russia Sanctions, Targeting Third-Country Suppliers
The U.S. this week sanctioned more than 250 people and companies supplying Russia’s military in violation of U.S. sanctions and export controls, targeting procurement networks in China, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and elsewhere. The Treasury and State departments said many of the newly sanctioned companies supplied Russia with goods listed on the Commerce Department’s list of common high-priority items, including electronic components, while others sold Russia advanced weapons and military technology.
The measures target mainland Chinese and Hong Kong-based companies and people for sending Chinese-manufactured weapons, unmanned drones and other items to Russia's defense industrial base. Other sanctions target “complex transnational networks” based in the UAE and Turkey. The Office of Foreign Assets Control said some of the Turkish companies have sent “hundreds” of shipments of common high priority items to Russian manufacturers -- including roller bearings, tantalum capacitors, integrated circuits and radio navigational equipment -- while UAE companies sent aircraft spare parts, data “transmission” machines, X-ray systems and batteries.
OFAC said Chinese commercial satellite imagery companies Beijing Yunze Technology Co., Ltd. and Chang Guang Satellite Technology Co., Ltd., provided “high-resolution observation satellite imagery” to the Wagner Group, a sanctioned Russian private military company. Other Chinese companies, such as IMAXChip Technology Co., Izzition E-Technology Co., Ltd. and Waytop Industrial Ltd., have sent multiple shipments of advanced electronics to Russia or have been used by the Russian government for electronics procurement services.
Turkey-based Bosfor Avrasya Ic Ve Dis Ticaret Limited Sirketi has sent hundreds of shipments of ball or roller bearings to Russia, OFAC said, as has Egetir Otomotiv Sanayi Ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi. UAE-based helicopter services company DWC LLC shipped aircraft spare parts and equipment to Russia, while UAE-based A T S Heavy Equipment and Machinery Spare Parts Trading has delivered “millions” of dollars’ worth of aircraft parts to Russia.
The U.S. also sanctioned companies and people in Switzerland, Singapore, Kyrgyzstan, the Maldives, Tajikistan and Russia. Among the designated Russian entities are Joint Stock Company Izhevsk Electromechanical Plant Kupol (AO IEMZ Kupol), a major Russian anti-aircraft defense equipment producer, and multiple related subcontractors, including Obshchestvo S Ogranichennoi Otvetstvennostyu Plaz and Obshchestvo S Ogranichennoi Otvetstvennostyu NPK Aerokon.
Other Russian entities sanctioned this week include Highland Gold Mining Limited, a U.K.-registered gold mining company that conducts operations in Russia and is the country's seventh-largest gold producer. Also sanctioned was Limited Liability Company Kyiv Square, a Moscow construction company co-founded by God Semenovich Nisanov, who the State Department said has ties to the Russian government; and Limited Liability Company Kismet Capital Group, a Russian holding company owned by Ivan Vladimirovich Tavrin, one of Russia's "biggest wartime dealmakers."
OFAC issued two new general licenses to authorize certain transactions with those companies. General License No. 79 authorizes the wind-down of certain transactions involving Kyiv Square, Highland Gold Mining, Kismet Capital Group and any entity they own by 50% or more. General License No. 80 authorizes certain debt or equity transactions, or transactions related to derivative contracts, involving Highland Gold Mining. Both licenses are valid through 12:01 a.m. EST March 11.