The United States imposes sanctions on Emirati, Chinese and Turkish companies that secretly support Russia in its war on Ukraine
Financial Times
The United States has hit companies in Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and China with a new package of sanctions as part of efforts to prevent Russia from acquiring sensitive technologies for its war in Ukraine.
Kiev's allies are becoming increasingly concerned about Russia using these countries either as sources or channels for high-end electronics and high-precision goods that it cannot produce domestically.
The latest U.S. package was timed to coincide with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's visit to Washington this week, a show of support for Kiev even amid political roadblocks that have raised doubts about future military aid.
The sanctions attack both military contractors and civilian companies that have switched to supporting the Russian war effort, increasing confidence from the Kremlin that it can strengthen its arsenal while the Western determination to support Ukraine is crumbling.
Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, said last week that Ukraine's excessive dependence on Western support is doomed to losing the war.
"When you have no reason for your own existence, no ideology, industry, money, or anything of your own, you will have no future."We are doing this,"Putin told a group of soldiers in comments published on Sunday.
"Our sanctions today continue to tighten punishment for suppliers and networks of third countries wishing to provide Russia with the inputs it desperately needs to intensify and maintain its military-industrial base,"said Janet Yellen, US Treasury Secretary.
The Financial Times reported in November that NATO member Turkey's exports of military-related parts to Russia have soared since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year.
The United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom and other Western partners say these so-called "high priority" goods are particularly valuable items for the Russian war effort and include microchips, navigation equipment and scopes.
Washington and Brussels are particularly frustrated that Turkish companies are buying dual-use goods. Which have commercial and military applications, from Western suppliers and then re-exported to Russia either directly or through intermediaries in Central Asia and Eastern Europe.
One of the newly approved Turkish companies, Kartal Exim, describes itself as a"multifunctional supplier of technological equipment". Russian records indicate that it shipped about 2.1 million dollars of goods to Orlan LLC.M.M-a company in Russian St. Petersburg.
By far the largest category of goods shipped from Kartal EXIM to Orlan, worth 1.1 million dollars, is listed as "data transmission" equipment, a category in the list of high priority goods. The items, which were shipped from Istanbul, were manufactured by Western suppliers including Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Fujitsu, Dell and Samsung.
Russian records indicate that uzkaya automotive, another company on the list, shipped 4 million dollars of goods to Russia - largely ball bearings made by Fersa Bearings, a Spanish company. Bearings are also on the list of high priority items.
While Turkey has not directly applied Western sanctions to Russia, it says that "strict monitoring and blocking efforts to avoid sanctions through Turkey is an integral part of our policy".
The new sanctions come at a sensitive moment for Turkey's relations with its Western allies. Turkey is finally hoping to get congressional support for the purchase of US F-16 fighter jets worth billions of dollars, and has also expressed interest in buying European typhoons, a plan that was blocked by Germany. The United States and the European Union are also strongly pressing Turkey to approve Sweden's accession to the NATO military alliance.
In the United Arab Emirates, the new sanctions targeted 12 companies, many of which are engaged in the transportation of aircraft parts to Russia. One of the sanctioned entities is Aspect DWC, an Emirati company that, according to Russian customs records, shipped Dassault commercial aircraft.
The main focus of the sanctions on Chinese companies was a procurement network run by Hu xiaoxun, a businessman. According to the US treasury, his company - Jarvis Hong Kong - exported ammunition, loitering ammunition and semiconductor chip manufacturing equipment from China to Russia.
The United States also listed 17 other Chinese entities, including Beijing yunzi technology and Zhang Guang Satellite Technology.
According to the listing, the two companies provided satellite images used in Russian operations, including the Wagner group. The Treasury Department noted that Russia has become "dependent on commercial satellite images of the people's Republic of China".
The US measures also target companies that helped transport ammunition and military equipment from North Korea to strengthen the Russian war effort.
North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un swung in support of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine after meeting Putin in September.
