The Biden administration on Wednesday announced nearly 300 new sanctions against international suppliers of military equipment technology that the administration says is helping Russia replenish its arsenal as it wages war in Ukraine.
The sanctions represent an expansion of U.S. efforts to disrupt the supply chain of the Russian military-industrial complex. They include more than a dozen targets based in China, which the United States says is increasingly helping Russia arm itself. The Biden administration has expressed growing concern over the weapons technology alliance between China and Russia. Senior U.S. officials have raised these concerns with their Chinese counterparts in recent weeks.
“Today’s actions will further disrupt and degrade Russia’s war efforts by attacking its military-industrial base and the evasion networks that help supply it,” the Treasury Secretary said Wednesday. Janet L. Yellen in a statement.
The sanctions follow Ms. Yellen’s trip to China last month, where she confronted Chinese officials over their support for Russia. She warned them that Chinese companies and financial institutions that facilitate support for the Kremlin’s war effort would face sanctions. The Treasury secretary said her counterparts told her that China has a policy of not providing military aid to Russia.
Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken expressed similar concerns to China during a separate visit last week.
“Russia would find it difficult to continue its assault on Ukraine without support from China,” Blinken said at the end of his trip. “I made it clear that if China didn’t solve this problem, we would.”
The Chinese companies facing sanctions are accused by the Treasury Department of supplying Russia with infrared detectors, components for Russian drones and pressure sensors used in Russian missiles.
The sanctions, coordinated with the State Department, also target targets based in Azerbaijan, Belgium, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. Several Russian companies and individuals associated with Moscow’s purchase of materials for its chemical and biological weapons programs have also been hit with sanctions, along with Russian importers of cotton cellulose and nitrocellulose, which the country uses to produce gunpowder and rocket propellants.
The Treasury Department hopes the sanctions will have a greater impact after President Biden signed an executive order last year giving the United States the authority to crack down on banks and financial services companies that help Russia escape strict sanctions on access to technology and military equipment. .
