The US has announced new sanctions targeting Russia’s war machine — and says more are coming

Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

The US has taken fresh aim at Russia’s wartime economy with another wide-sweeping sanctions package, targeting sources that help sustain Moscow’s fight in Ukraine.

On Friday, The Treasury and State Department announced restrictions against 400 individuals and entities worldwide, including in China, Turkey, and Switzerland.

“Russia has turned its economy into a tool in service of the Kremlin’s military industrial complex,” Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo said in the press release, adding: “Companies, financial institutions, and governments around the world need to ensure they are not supporting Russia’s military-industrial supply chains.”

Included are measures against transnational networks that provide Russia with ammunition, military supplies, and advanced machine and electric components. These networks also help Russian oligarchs circumvent prior restrictions, the Treasury said, and have helped one company launder gold.

Within Russia, IT and software companies essential to the country’s financial sector were also targeted, and curbs on metal and mining revenue were extended.

With the war in Ukraine dragging on through its third year, research has found that Russia’s defense ministry continues to access needed equipment through secondhand markets, relying on opaque firms to source essential products. Foreign markets have increasingly served as a lifeline for the Kremlin, and the West has not ceased in its attempt to end this.

In December 2023, an executive order gave the US Treasury new power to unleash secondary sanctions on financial institutions that work with Russia. This has shown results, such as in China — a recent report found that nearly all Chinese banks are now refusing payments from Russia, impeding the Kremlin’s ability to bypass sanctions.

According to trade data cited by the Financial Times, war-linked exports from China and Turkey into Russia have fallen dramatically since the December order. Chinese exports of high-priority goods fell from $421 million to $212 million between December and February.

The Treasury might not stop there.

Adeyemo told the outlet that the US is prepared to threaten secondary sanctions toward countries that host Russian bank branches.

“We will go after the branch they’re setting up, but also the other entities and the companies in your jurisdiction that work with them,” he told the outlet. The concern here is that Russian subsidiaries can be used to step over sanctions.

He added that the US would be turning its attention towards smaller banks that continue to maintain ties with the Kremlin. Adeyemo has previously explained that foreign lenders typically comply with US demands, given that they fear losing access to the dollar.

When Washington last imposed a major sanctions package against Russia in June, dollar and euro trading was suspended on the country’s main exchange.