Daphne Psaledakis
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States on Wednesday responded to 22 individuals and entities in multiple countries To impose sanctions, the United States accuses these individuals and entities of being associated with a global sanctions-evasion network that supports the Russian military-industrial complex. The U.S. Treasury Department said in a statement that its punitive measures around the world do not limit Russia’s access to the revenue it needs to fight the war.
The action targets what the Treasury Department said was sanctions against Russian and Cypriot arms dealer Igor Zimenkov and his son Jonatan on Wednesday.
The network is involved in projects related to Russia’s defense capabilities, including providing high-tech equipment following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Treasury said. Washington has also accused some members of the network of supporting sanctioned Russian state-owned defense entities.
Zimenkov has also supported the Belarusian military-industrial complex by facilitating sales efforts of Belarusian defense entities in Latin America, subject to U.S. sanctions, the finance ministry said.
Targeted members of the network include Singapore-based Asia Trading & Construction PTE Limited, which the Treasury Department accuses of selling helicopters on behalf of US-sanctioned Rostec, and its directors to a Latin American government.
GBD Limited, another company in the sanctions network, sought to supply an African government with weapons systems, the Treasury said.
Companies in Cyprus, Bulgaria and Israel, as well as individuals, were also targeted.
The Russian embassy in the United States stated that such “illegal steps” taken by Washington will not achieve their goals.
“The Russian economy is still far from being ‘fragmented’ as some in the West would like,” it said.
This action freezes any U.S. assets placed on the sanctions list and generally prohibits Americans from dealing with them, marking the U.S. war on Russia over Ukraine The latest round of sanctions imposed, the war in Ukraine has left thousands dead and wounded, reducing cities to rubble.
“Russia’s reckless use of proxies to circumvent U.S. sanctions demonstrates that sanctions are making it more difficult and expensive for Russia’s military-industrial complex to resupply Putin’s war machine,” U.S. Treasury Deputy Minister Wally Adeyemo said in a statement.
