WSJ: U.S. begins to dismantle major hubs for electronics supply to Russia
Turkish, Finnish, and Arab firms are among the 150 legal entities and individuals sanctioned by the US
After much preparation, diplomatic work, and intelligence, the US government has begun to dismantle the largest hubs for circumventing sanctions against Russia.
Source. The Wall Street Journal writes about this with reference to White House officials.
The new package of US sanctions, enacted the day before, is aimed at cutting off the channels through which high-tech products under sanctions are supplied to Russia.
These include chips, as well as parts for satellites and navigation equipment, which the Kremlin continues to purchase in the West through a network of intermediaries in China, Turkey, Hungary, and the United Arab Emirates.
Among the 150 legal entities and individuals sanctioned by the United States are Turkish firms that, according to U.S. data, have made more than 100 deliveries to Russian companies involved in the production of military drones and cruise missiles.
Two Finnish companies and their top executives from France and Estonia were also blacklisted, an official familiar with the matter told WSJ.
Siberica and Luminor were shipping cameras for drones, high-resolution optical filters, and lithium batteries to Russia.
In addition to the intermediary companies, Ak Bars Bank, which has become one of Russia's key settlement centers in the UAE, was sanctioned. Last year, the bank, which before the Russian invasion of Ukraine belonged to the government of Tatarstan, began conducting transactions in dirhams and opened correspondent accounts in two banks in Dubai.
Now, the bank, which is among the top 25 in Russia by assets, is cut off from foreign currency transactions: on Friday, it warned that it would stop making foreign currency transfers and exchanging dollars, euros and dirhams.
The US sanctions strike was preceded by numerous visits by US diplomats to the Middle East, during which local officials were persuaded to share intelligence.
As a result of these consultations, the Biden administration is hiring a team of prosecutors and criminal investigators, the WSJ writes: they will work with the US Department of Justice and the US Department of Commerce, which are responsible for export controls.
Background. As a reminder, a Russian company is going to build a chemical plant in the UAE, but local banks do not want to work with it.
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