On Wednesday, the US Treasury announced another round of sanctions targeting a network of individuals and entities involved in circumventing existing restrictions. The list included a network linked to billionaire Alisher Usmanov and the International Investment Bank (IIB) in Budapest, Hungary, and with ties to Russian intelligence.
As announced in a statement issued by the Departments of State and Treasury, The new sanctions affect more than 120 people and 29 registered entities in 25 countries..
Among them is the International Investment Bank (IIB), which is controlled by Russia and has ties to Russian intelligence, and is based in Budapest.
“The presence of the IIB in Budapest enables Russia to increase its intelligence presence in Europe, opens the door to the malign influence of the Kremlin in Central Europe and the Western Balkans, and can serve as a mechanism for corruption and illicit financing, including sanctions violations.” Read the statement. The ministry added that Russia is trying to protect the bank from the risk of bankruptcy. Immediately after the Russian invasion in February 2022, Bulgaria, Romania, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia withdrew from the bank.
Sanctions also apply to three current or former directors of the International Investment Bank: Nikolai Nikolayevich Kosovo and Georgy Nogzarovic Potapov, who are nationals of the Russian Federation, and Imre Laszluchko, who is a Hungarian national. “The IIB leadership cooperates with representatives of the Russian Federation on IIB issues even after Russia invaded Ukraine again in February 2022. Kosov is the former head of the IIB, and Potapov and Lashlochki are senior officials on the IIB board of directors,” we read. .
The United States imposes sanctions for its support of Russia
A large part of the remaining sanctions imposed on Wednesday are international sanctions A network of collaborators, funds and entities associated with the oligarch Alisher Usmanov, close to the KremlinWith which he could circumvent the restrictions imposed on him in March 2022. The list of sanctions includes registered persons and entities, for example. In Cyprus, Switzerland, France, Liechtenstein, Uzbekistan and Slovakia.
in addition to Sanctions were also imposed on a number of companies from China, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates that violated US export restrictions On selling semiconductors to Russia and sending Chinese drones to Russia for use in the Russian war machine.
See also: The wife of the head of Russian intelligence shopping in Paris. penalties in practice
The State Department imposed sanctions on two Russian centers involved in the “militarization and indoctrination” of schoolchildren, including in Crimea, a new private military company, a Chinese company that supplies satellite imagery to the Wagner Group, and additional people associated with Russia’s state-owned nuclear corporation Rosatom.
“The United States will continue to take action against Russia and those who support its war in Ukraine,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement, threatening “dire consequences” for other country entities involved in circumventing the restrictions.
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