The United States has expanded sanctions against Russia, targeting more than 300 new companies and individuals “whose products and services enable Russia to continue its war effort and evade sanctions”.
A statement from the US Treasury Department said the list includes dozens of companies based in China, as well as companies in Russia and other countries, including Serbia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.
“Russia relies on complex transnational supply chains to power its war machine and enable the production of materials to support its war effort. Similar networks also seek to avoid sanctions by using intricate schemes to move money, goods and other valuable assets. Today’s action targets more than a dozen such networks and involves more than 90 individuals and organizations in Russia, Belarus, the British Virgin Islands, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, the People’s Republic of China, Serbia, South Africa, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE),” the statement said.
“Russia’s wartime economy is severely isolated from the international financial system, leaving the Kremlin military desperate for access to the outside world,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said.
“Today’s actions affect their remaining routes for international supplies and equipment, including their reliance on critical supplies from third countries,” she said on Wednesday.
U.S. officials have said they are concerned about Russia’s procurement of advanced semiconductors and optical equipment, despite previous sanctions. These goods are needed for advanced weapons.
“We will continue to use all means at our disposal to prevent Russia from using the international financial system to wage its war, to destroy the support networks for Russia’s military-industrial base, and to raise the costs to Russia as [Vladimir] Putin “has carried out its aggression against Ukraine,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.
Since the war began, the United States has imposed sanctions on more than 4,000 Russian companies and individuals.
Foreign financial institutions that support Russia’s war economy are at greater risk of sanctions.
Network Nikolai Levin
OOO Mayak (Mayak) assists Russian companies in circumventing sanctions through Mayak trading houses and consolidated warehouses in Europe and offers parallel imports from Europe, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. Russian national Nikolai Aleksandrovich Levin (Levin) is the CEO and owner of Mayak and has utilized a network of companies to facilitate the importation of electronic equipment, industrial materials and other U.S. and foreign goods into Russia. Levin is director and owner of Bassire GroupDOO Belgrade (Bassire Group) based in Serbia and sole director of NAL Solutions Company Limited (NAL Solutions) based in Thailand. Turkey-based Expert Machinery Kimyasal Urunler Ticaret Limited Sirketi (Expert Machinery) is co-owned by Levin and has supplied over US$500,000 worth of HS code goods to Mayak and Russia-based OOO TAV (TAV), including holding machines, conversion and data transfer machines and electronic integrated circuits. TAV buys and distributes imported goods and provides all types of freight transportation throughout Russia. The company is owned by Aleksandr Vasilyevich Tanchev (Tanchev), a Russian citizen. Tanchev is a director of Hong Kong-based TavitHong Kong Co Limited (Tavit), which has delivered over USD 2 million worth of US-made goods to Mayak.
ARP investments
Russia-based Severnaya Zvezda (Severnaya Zvezda) Limited Liability Company is a manufacturer and supplier of semiconductors and tantalum capacitors critical to Russia’s war effort. Severnaya Zvezda’s main supplier is ARP Investments Limited (ARP), based in the British Virgin Islands, which has made hundreds of deliveries of electronic components to Russia since February 2022. ARP has completed transactions with Kominvex DOO Belgrade (Kominvex) based in Serbia. Kominvex’s transactions showed typologies indicative of possible trade-based money laundering /TheGeopost/.