Lack of New #US #Sanctions Allows Restricted Goods & Funds Into #Russia
#Trump has issued no new restrictions on Russia this year, in effect allowing Moscow to acquire the money & materials it needs in its conflict with #Ukraine.
#PutinsPuppet
nytimes.com/2025/07/02/us/poli…
Nonilex
in reply to Nonilex • • •Since #Trump returned to office, the #UnitedStates has issued no new #sanctions against #Russia related to the full-scale invasion of #Ukraine. In some cases, the admin has EASED restrictions. And without new ones, analysts say, existing measures lose their force.
The result has created an opening for new dummy companies to funnel funds & critical components to Russia, including computer chips & #military equipment that would otherwise be cut off to the Kremlin, trade & corporate records show.
Nonilex
in reply to Nonilex • • •#Sanctions became the center point of the effort to isolate Russia after it invaded #Ukraine in 2022. The effort evolved into an international game of cat-&-mouse, as evasion schemes regularly sprang up around the world.
During his presidency, Joe #Biden imposed thousands of maintenance sanctions targeting new schemes. But this year, those actions have come to a standstill, acc/to a NYT analysis of restrictions on trade, financial transactions & other activities connected to #Russia & #Putin.
Nonilex
in reply to Nonilex • • •“#Trump’s approach to economic statecraft is to impose pressure & get leverage & try to get the best deal possible,” said Edward Fishman, a snr research scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University. “For whatever reason, w/Russia, he doesn’t want to have any leverage over #Putin.”
The #Biden admin placed, on average, >170 new #sanctions a month on entities linked to #Russia from 2022 to 2024. The targets included #oil & #weapons production, #tech procurement & #banking.
George Liquor, American
in reply to Nonilex • • •Nonilex
in reply to Nonilex • • •In total, the #Biden admin imposed >6,200 blocks on individuals, companies, vessels & aircraft linked to #Russia. In Biden’s final weeks in office, the #US ramped up pressure even further, issuing nearly 3 times the monthly average, acc/to an analysis of data from the #Treasury Dept.
The effects of that pressure are already beginning to erode.
#PutinsPuppet #complicit
Nonilex
in reply to Nonilex • • •A review of trade records, online listings & corporate filings identified >130 companies in mainland #China & #HongKong that are advertising immediate sales of restricted computer chips to #Russia. None of the companies is under #sanctions.
If one company is targeted w/restrictions, many others are ready to take its place.
#Trump #PutinsPuppet #complicit
Nonilex
in reply to Nonilex • • •Nonilex
in reply to Nonilex • • •Several companies in the network have sent restricted components to #Russia in violation of #US export controls, trade data, online listings & corporate registration records show.
A representative for Carbon Fiber Global denied that the company or ChipsX had sold restricted goods to Russia but declined to address questions about other companies in the network.
#Trump #PutinsPuppet #complicit
Nonilex
in reply to Nonilex • • •For #sanctions to work, “you need to keep running just to stay still,” said Elina Ribakova, an economist at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. She added that, without “continuous maintenance” of restrictions, Russia’s workarounds could take hold, including the establishment of shadowy companies like HK GST Limited & ChipsX.
The #UnitedStates’ abrupt shift on sanctions underscores #Trump’s hands-off approach toward #Russia, even as fighting has escalated in the region.
Nonilex
in reply to Nonilex • • •#Trump’s relative inaction has drawn criticism from both Republican & Democratic lawmakers, who argue that the admin is undermining the Western effort to confront Russian aggression.
Nonilex
in reply to Nonilex • • •#Trump has used #sanctions aggressively elsewhere, the data shows. Trump has imposed more than 280 new restrictions on #Iran in the past 6 months, targeting people involved in terror financing. He has also penalized #judges at the #ICC for investigating potential #Israel #WarCrimes. And he has used sanctions to crack down on narcotics trafficking & cyber-criminal groups.
#Russia #PutinsPuppet #complicit
Nonilex
in reply to Nonilex • • •By contrast, the #Trump admin has eased some restrictions on #Russia.
In April, the #Treasury Dept, which is responsible for administering & enforcing #sanctions, quietly lifted limits that had been placed on Karina Rotenberg, the wife of a #RussianOligarch. Ms. Rotenberg’s husband, Boris, made a fortune in construction & energy, & as a childhood friend of #Putin’s he has been a central figure in the Russian president’s inner circle for decades.
#PutinsPuppet #complicit
Nonilex
in reply to Nonilex • • •The announcement, buried at the bottom of a routine bulletin published in April, provided no explanation for Ms. Rotenberg’s removal from the #sanctions list. It was an unusual deletion. Ms. Rotenberg, a US citizen, was among the first Russian nationals to face sanctions after the Russian invasion.
The Rotenbergs did not respond to requests for comment. The #Treasury Dept declined to comment, & instead referred questions to the #State Dept.
#Trump #Russia #PutinsPuppet #complicit
Nonilex
in reply to Nonilex • • •A #State Dept spox said that the delisting was “independent from our ongoing efforts to advance a negotiated end to the war,” but that it was “unable to comment on the specifics of this delisting.”
In Feb, the #DOJ shuttered the #KleptoCapture task force, a unit formed in 2022 under the #Biden admin to identify & seize assets belonging to #RussianOligarchs around the world who were under #sanctions.
#Trump #Russia #PutinsPuppet #complicit
Nonilex
in reply to Nonilex • • •The task force had coordinated investigations across agencies, leading to high-profile seizures of luxury yachts, real estate & private jets. The #DOJ recently established a task force with a similar structure to focus on Hamas, according to Andrew Adams, the former head of #KleptoCapture.
The DOJ declined to comment on the closure of the task force.
#Trump #Russia #PutinsPuppet #complicit
Estarriol, Terrorist Dragon
in reply to Nonilex • • •Estarriol, Terrorist Dragon
in reply to Nonilex • • •Toni Aittoniemi
in reply to Nonilex • • •We need to wise the fuck up.
USA elected a putinist president, and Russia will keep pushing as long as he is in power.
UK has bound itself to USA by ”special relationship” and will never cross it’s now big brother.
Europe needs to put the big boy pants on, now. Nobody’s fucking coming.
Robin Barton
in reply to Nonilex • • •Corvus
in reply to Nonilex • • •I am so blessedly far from the front line in Ukraine yet so depressingly close to tears every day.