The US Treasury Department is imposing new sanctions on Russia and increasing penalties for circumventing existing ones. Washington wants to influence a scheme between companies in Russia and China that makes it easier for Moscow to make payments for sanctioned goods.
This was reported in a press release.
More than 150 foreigners and companies that continue to work with Russiaʼs military-industrial complex will be subject to secondary sanctions.
Russia and China have created a scheme under which they are working to create regional clearing platforms in both countries that act as counterparties for payments for sanctioned goods. The participants in the scheme are Russian financial institutions that are on the US sanctions list: “Sberbank” of Russia, “Alfa-Bank”, “Sovcombank”, “T-Bank” and “Bank Tochka”. As well as legal entities — Herbarium Office Management, Sigma Partners, Arcturus and Paylink Limited Joint Stock Company and others. More than a dozen more companies in the scheme are Chinese.
Meanwhile, since the summer of 2024, officials at “Keremet Bank” in the Kyrgyz Republic have been coordinating with Russian officials and “Promsvyazbank” to evade sanctions. Russia uses “Promsvyazbank” to finance its defense industry and service large contracts. One of the key figures in the schemes between Moscow and Bishkek is Russian-Moldovan oligarch Ilan Shor, who is also under sanctions.
In 2024, the Kyrgyz Ministry of Finance sold a controlling stake in “Keremet Bank” to a firm closely linked to a Russian oligarch with ties to the Russian government. This allowed Russia to create a so-called hub that allowed it to circumvent sanctions.
In the Russian financial services sector, new sanctions have been imposed on “Bank St. Petersburg”, “Eximbank of Russia”, “Gazprombank”, “Pochta Bank”, “State Transport Leasing Company”, “Moscow Exchange”, “Rosbank”, “T-Bank”, and several others.
As for the energy sector, new restrictions were imposed on “Rosgazdobycha”, “Gazstroyprom”, “Razrez Kolyvansky”, “Zvezda Shipbuilding Complex”, “Pipe Metallurgical Company”, “Severstal”, “Gazprom Invest”, “Regent Baltica Company Limited”, “Arktika LNG-2”, United Metallurgical Company, and others.
The sanctioned companies in the defense and technical sector are Advanced Research Foundation (develops drones, tanks), Aleksinsky Chemical Plant (produces gunpowder, ammunition, weapons), Kremny L Group (produces microelectronics), the Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation, Perm Gunpowder Plant, Ya. M. Sverdlov Plant (produces explosives), Dukhov Research Institute of Automation (develops nuclear weapons), Angstrom (produces integrated circuits and semiconductor devices), Russian Space Systems (produces parts and equipment for guided missiles and military communication satellites), Izhevsk Electromechanical Plant Kupol (creates air defense systems), Skolkovo (Russian State Center for Technical Innovations), Tactical Missiles (produces guided missiles and weapons systems for ships of the Russian Navy), and many others.
- Before that, the US imposed sanctions against 400 entities in the Russian energy sector, in particular, the largest Russian oil companies were subject to restrictions: “Surgutnaftogaz”, “Gazprom Nafta”, “Ingosstrakh”, “Alfastrakhavaniya”, and “Radcomflot”.
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