New US sanctions against Russia may affect Chinese companies - US politician Fried

Former US Department of State Sanctions Policy Coordinator Daniel Fried believes that US sanctions against Russia will help eliminate third-country networks that facilitate the re-export of Western products to Russia

He stated this on Espreso TV.

"President Biden has stated that additional US sanctions against Russia will be announced on Friday. I don't know the specifics of these sanctions, but hints from the administration suggest that they will target the Russian military industry. This likely means going after networks of sanctions evaders that provide Russia with the equipment necessary for its military production. We may also target Chinese companies and hopefully dismantle networks of third countries that facilitate the re-export of Western products to Russia, thus evading sanctions," Fried explained.

According to Fried, the West should work harder to prevent Russia from circumventing sanctions.

"I would like to see even stronger measures included in the sanctions, such as a decision from the G7 and the US's G7 partners to utilize Russian Sovereign assets to aid Ukraine. While I don't expect this to happen immediately, I believe we will see a package of measures aimed at curbing Russian sanctions evasion," he added.

• On February 23, CNN reported, citing an unnamed US Treasury official, that on the second anniversary of the full-scale invasion, the United States plans to announce new sanctions against more than 500 Russian businesses, legal entities and individuals.
• On February 23, the US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced a package of sanctions against 500 Russian-linked targets on the second anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.