Washington Calls on Businesses to Comply with Sanctions against Russia

The U.S. administration has called on business to ensure compliance with the sanctions imposed on Russia. Washington warns that Russia can use various tactics to avoid sanctions, including through use of third countries. The U.S. administration on Thursday, March 3, urged U.S. businesses to enforce sanctions imposed on Russia for its aggressive war against Ukraine, Reuters reported. In a joint statement, the three U.S. departments of Justice, Commerce and Treasury warned: failure to comply with sanctions could lead to prosecution or other enforcement actions. The PRC, Armenia, Turkey and Uzbekistan could serve as “transshipment points” The paper states that private companies should be aware of various tactics that can be used to bypass sanctions, such as the use of shell companies and aliases, or obscured shipping information. It is mentioned that countries such as China, Armenia, Turkey and Uzbekistan can be used as “transshipment points” to illegally redirect restricted goods to Russia or Belarus. “Businesses of all stripes should act responsibly by implementing rigorous compliance controls,” the U.S. government stresses. The West Fights Transshipment Points According to the European Union’s statistical service Eurostat, during the first nine months of the war in Ukraine, the volume of supplies of goods from the EU to Russia decreased by 47 percent. During the same period, deliveries of European products to neighboring states such as Georgia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan increased by 48 percent. All EU countries, except for Malta and Sweden, increased their exports to Russia’s neighboring states. Western countries are trying to combat such “transshipment points”. For example, in December, the European Union called on Turkey, which has increased its trade with Russia over the past year, to reconsider its policy. Josep Borrell, European diplomacy chief, recalled that Turkey is an EU candidate, and Brussels expects that Ankara will not help Moscow to bypass sanctions.