US Sanctions 400 Entities, Including Russian and Chinese Companies, for Aiding Russia’s War

The seal of the U.S. Treasury Department on the U.S. Treasury Department building in Washington on Jan. 19, 2023. Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

The Treasury and State departments on Aug. 23 sanctioned close to 400 individuals and entities supporting Russian war efforts, including several Russian and Chinese companies.

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

Several of these are companies that supply materials such as machine tools and electronic components to the Russian military, but the targets are wide-ranging. The Treasury Department stated that it has also targeted Russia’s projected revenue from metals and mining and the technology needed to run the Russian financial sector.

China Supplying Russian Military

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has, from the outset of the Russia–Ukraine conflict, sided with Russian interests, ordering state-run media outlets to not report unfavorably about Russia and responding evasively to U.S. diplomats’ calls for China to respect the sovereignty of other nations.

Earlier this year, Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with CCP leader Xi Jinping and again raised concerns about the CCP supporting the Russian military. In response, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said the United States should “stop scapegoating China.”

The Treasury and State departments on Aug. 23 identified and sanctioned several Chinese companies supplying the Russian military, including Hong Kong-based Smart Kit, which has shipped chip-making machines to Russia’s Inzhiniring Grupp, and Hong Kong-based Siliborn, which shipped electronic integrated circuits to a Russian robotics company on a U.S. blacklist.

Other companies include Hong Kong- and China-based electronics companies sending machine tools, circuits, engines, and millions of dollars worth of other technological tools to Russian companies involved in manufacturing drones, chips, and other electronic equipment used by the military. Several of the Russian companies buying these materials were already on U.S. blacklists.

One of the companies, Asia Material Solutions, has been identified as a cover company for Russian intelligence, according to the State Department.

Switzerland, Turkey

Some Turkish and Swiss entities were also sanctioned. The State Department identified Swiss Russian national Alexandre Orloff as having worked for years to secure semiconductor-related equipment for the Russian military, done in part through Hong Kong and China-based companies owned or partnering with Orloff.

Swiss national Anton Daniel Wyss was identified as a “major enabler of Russian cash flow in Switzerland and Liechtenstein,” helping hide Russian ownership and investment in foreign ventures in partnership with Austrian nationals Alexander Franz Josef Lins and Stefan Anton Wolf.

Russian technology company Promtekh, already blacklisted, was found to have a supply chain involving French, Chinese, and Turkish firms working together to provide the company with technology.

Italian national Giulio Sfoglietti was identified to have worked with a Turkish middleman to buy more than $150 million in equipment and ammunition for the Russian military. Turkish national Hayri Tahirbeyoglu was identified as the chair of a Turkey-based weapons and ammunition company that worked with Sfoglietti.

Economic Pressure

The Treasury Department is also trying to put pressure on Russia’s financial system, sanctioning payment software companies Atol, Centre of Financial Technologies Group, and Diasoft.

Another 30 companies related to the Russian metals and mining industry were sanctioned, including MMK, one of the world’s leading steel companies and the largest iron and steel company in Russia.

The sanctions come a day ahead of Ukrainian Independence Day, officials noted, and reflect the commitments made by the United States in support of Ukraine following the G7 summit.

This also comes the same week CCP State Council Premier Li Qiang paid a visit to Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin to discuss strategic plans for China–Russia relations.