300 New Sanctions for Russia as US Looks to Tighten the Noose

Ahead of a meeting later this week with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the Group of 7 nations leadership summit, the Biden administration has slapped 300 new sanctions on Russia in a further attempt to squeeze the war coffers as Moscow continues to circumvent sanctions most significantly, via China. 

Sanctions announced by the U.S. Department of Treasury on Wednesday added approximately 300 new sanctions on individuals and entities helping the Kremlin continue its war against Ukraine and enabling sanctions evasion. 

“We are increasing the risk for financial institutions dealing with Russia’s war economy and eliminating paths for evasion, and diminishing Russia’s ability to benefit from access to foreign technology, equipment, software, and IT services,” Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen said in a statement on Wednesday. 

The Treasury Department's new round of sanctions also provides updated guidelines for foreign financial outfits that risk being caught up in sanctions evasion cases, cautioning against transactions with foreign branches of Russian banks. Other IT-consultancy-related restrictions have also been added to the roster. 

Earlier this week, Bloomberg reported that a Russian tanker had attempted to circumvent U.S. sanctions by surreptitiously transferring its oil cargo to another vessel offshore Singapore. Earlier this year, the United States sanctioned Sovcomflot and 14 individual tankers for their participation in Russian crude oil exports amid the G7 price cap regime. 

On Wednesday, coinciding with Washington’s announcement of 300 new sanctions on Russian targets, the European Union also said it was mulling sanctions for Sovcomflot, Russia's oil-shipping giant which has been central to Russia’s continued crude oil exports after the EU/G7 price cap and sanctions. The company also ships liquefied natural gas, according to Bloomberg. 

In February this year, the U.S. Treasury and State targeted Sovcomflot and more than a dozen tankers linked to the Russian state-owned firm in a new wave of sanctions that targeted about 500 entities.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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