Senior government officials from the United States, Europe and Britain met with financial institutions on Thursday to brief them on Russia’s efforts to evade Western sanctions following its invasion of Ukraine. This was told to reporters by a senior US Treasury Department official.
Representatives of US, UK and European banks assured their interlocutors that they were doing everything they could to prevent Moscow’s attempts to evade sanctions and export controls, said a source who spoke to journalists on condition of anonymity.
The meeting took place on the sidelines of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund spring meetings, where senior US intelligence officials shared information on how Russia uses its military intelligence and the Federal Security Service in an attempt to evade sanctions and export controls.
Washington and its allies are stepping up enforcement of the massive sanctions they imposed on Russia and cracking down on any evasive action, the source said, noting that Moscow faces a critical shortage of materials needed to manufacture munitions.
“Financial institutions have shown a willingness to do what they have been doing since the beginning of the war, which is to take Russian attempts to evade sanctions and export controls seriously, not only in our jurisdictions, but also in third countries,” the source said. said.
The Treasury Department said the meeting was attended by Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo, EU Commissioner Mairead McGuinness, Treasury Department Director for International Finance Lindsey White, CIA Deputy Director David Cohen and the Deputy Director of National Intelligence Morgan Muir.
“Officials shared information on the most important commodities needed by the Russian military and pointed out that the Kremlin had instructed its intelligence services to find ways around sanctions in order to replenish badly depleted stocks,” said the Ministry of Finance.
Washington on Wednesday imposed sanctions on more than 120 facilities, including entities linked to Russian state energy company Rosatom and companies based in partner countries such as Turkey.
Sanctions imposed by the US Treasury and State Department, as well as the UK, have hit businesses and individuals in more than 20 countries and jurisdictions, including a Russian private military company, a Chinese company and a bank. Russian in Hungary.
Washington is also working closely with authorities in Switzerland, a major global banking center, the source said. The authorities in Bern have made it clear that they do not want their country to be seen as a haven to escape sanctions against Russia.
“Hopefully we will have announcements in the coming weeks on how we will deepen this partnership further,” the source added. “We know that we are now in a critical period where Russia needs not only electronics to create high-precision missiles, but also…other components needed to create munitions.”
U.S. authorities have also been looking at some specific cases related to the G7 and Australian price caps on Russian oil, the sources said, and have asked some insurance companies to take action.
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