Americas

Americas

US is monitoring Russian efforts to circumvent sanctions, treasury official says

18 February 2023 07:22 (UTC +04:00)

US Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo plans to put Russia and its intelligence services on notice next week: The US is monitoring their efforts to circumvent US sanctions and is cracking down, APA reports citing CNN.

"As we look forward, one of the centerpieces of our strategy will be to counter attempts to evade our sanctions," Adeyemo is set to say Tuesday at the Council on Foreign Relations, according to excerpts of his speech obtained by CNN. "We know Russia is actively seeking ways to circumvent these sanctions. ... In fact, one of the ways we know our sanctions are working is that Russia has tasked its intelligence services — the FSB and GRU — to find ways to get around them."

Adeyemo will deliver the remarks ahead of the first anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, reflecting on the US-led efforts to destabilize the Russian economy and push crushing sanctions to undermine Russian President Vladimir Putin's ability to wage war.

His remarks also come as the Kremlin increasingly turns to its clandestine services to avoid Western sanctions.

Since Russia launched its bloody war against Ukraine, the US has imposed thousands of sanctions against Russian politicians, oligarchs and companies, cut off the Russian central bank from its dollar-denominated reserves as well as the global financial messaging system, undermined Russia's defense-industrial base and imposed a price cap on Russian oil and petroleum products.

"The thing that we are doing with our colleagues at Commerce is we're slowing Russia down and our colleagues at the Defense Department are speeding the Ukrainians up. So they're getting them the arms they need to fight off Russia in their country while Commerce and Treasury are slowing down Russia's ability to rearm. We're already seeing a big impact," Adeyemo told CNN in an interview ahead of his speech.

Despite the impact sanctions have had on the Russian economy, some observers have pointed to concerns over Moscow's ability to evade sanctions and re-orient trade routes to continue to acquire some of the technologies and financing needed to fund its war machine through countries like Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and India.