US extends sanctions on Russia as G7 leaders meet

The Biden administration on Wednesday announced a series of new financial sanctions aimed at disrupting rapidly growing technological ties between China and Russia that U.S. officials say are behind a broad effort to rebuild and modernize the Russian army during its war with Ukraine.

The actions were announced just as President Biden left the country for a meeting in Italy of the Group of Seven industrialized economies, where a new effort to degrade the Russian economy will be at the top of his agenda.

Efforts have become much more complicated in the past six or eight months after China, which previously remained largely on the sidelines, ramped up shipments of microchips, optical systems for drones and components for advanced weapons, US officials said. But so far, Beijing appears to have heeded Mr. Biden's warning against shipping weapons to Russia, even as the United States and NATO continue to arm Ukraine.

In announcing the new sanctions, Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen said in a statement that Russia's war economy was deeply isolated from the international financial system, leaving the Kremlin's military desperate for access to the outside world.

At the heart of the new measures is the expansion of secondary sanctions that give the United States the power to blacklist any bank in the world that does business with Russian financial institutions already facing sanctions. The aim is to dissuade small banks, particularly in countries like China, from helping Russia finance its war effort.

The Treasury Department also imposed restrictions on the Moscow stock exchange in hopes of preventing foreign investors from backing Russian defense companies. The sanctions hit several Chinese companies accused of helping Russia gain access to critical military equipment such as electronics, lasers and drone components.

Although the moves broaden the scope of the U.S. sanctions program, the Biden administration has so far refrained from imposing sanctions on Chinese or European banks that it says are helping Russia. The new measures do not prevent banks from facilitating transactions related to Russia's energy exports, which the Biden administration has allowed to continue over concerns that restricting them could fuel inflation.

In another move, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said the State Department was imposing sanctions on more than 100 entities, including companies engaged in developing the future production and export capacity of Russia in the fields of energy, metals and mining.

Mr. Biden has already tried to prevent supplies and financing to Russia, and overestimated its effects. In March 2022, shortly after the start of the war, he announced a first series of financial actions and declared: “Thanks to these unprecedented sanctions, the ruble is almost immediately reduced to ruins. It was not. After a brief fall, it recovered and, although today it is no longer as strong as a year ago, the Russian economy has grown thanks to the strength of growth linked to war.

This is largely due to China's efforts. It buys Russian oil, often at a discount to world prices. And it has stepped up sales of dual-use goods, including microelectronics and software needed to make weapons systems, drones and air defenses.

The result was the rise of a somewhat parallel war economy involving Russia, China, Iran and North Korea. Most of the companies subject to sanctions are in Hong Kong or just across the border in Shenzhen, China's tech manufacturing hub. Yet administration officials insist that this time they can stifle what has become an increasingly deep business relationship.

The United States has already imposed sanctions on more than 100 Chinese entities that helped Russia, but so far it has done little to deter Chinese companies or the government.

By announcing new restrictions on Chinese businesses, the Biden administration also hopes to spur European governments and possibly their Asian allies to take similar steps.

Mr. Blinken discussed the issue with his European counterparts at a meeting last month in Prague of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and U.S. officials intend to put him on the agenda. of the day of a leaders' summit in Washington in July. This NATO summit is expected to include not only the leaders of member countries, but also the heads of state of Japan, South Korea, New Zealand and Australia, US allies in Asia who are part of a Washington-led coalition that aims to counter China's military buildup. .

Mr. Blinken also warned the Chinese government that it cannot hope to maintain friendly relations with European powers if it supports the Russian defense industry.

At a press conference in Prague on May 31, Blinken said that 70 percent of machine tools imported by Russia came from China, as did 90 percent of microelectronics.

China cannot hope to improve relations with European countries while fueling the biggest threat to European security since the end of the Cold War, he said. .

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