The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control imposed sanctions against 22 individuals and entities tied to Russia's military-industrial complex.
According to a Feb. 1 Treasury news release, the purpose is to close down critical backfilling channels, expose facilitators and enablers and limit Russia's access to the revenue needed to wage its ruthless war in Ukraine.
"We are determined to crack down on Russian sanctions evasion,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a post on Twitter. “@USTreasury today imposed sanctions against a global network supporting Russia's military-industrial complex. We will continue to take actions that weaken Russia's ability to wage war against Ukraine.”
The sanctions cover individuals and entities linked to activities like arms dealing, shell companies and those who maintained leadership roles which, in one way or another, provided Russia with the means to execute its aggression in Ukraine, the release reported. All associated individuals, including family members, were also part of the sanctions applied Feb. 1.
"Russia's desperate attempts to utilize proxies to circumvent U.S. sanctions demonstrate that sanctions have made it much harder and costlier for Russia's military-industrial complex to re-supply Putin's war machine," Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo said in the release. "Targeting proxies is one of many steps that Treasury and our coalition of partners have taken, and continue to take, to tighten sanctions enforcement against Russia's defense sector, its benefactors and its supporters."
