Russia: Sanction and Cooperation
Russia: Sanction and Cooperation
The UK has announced more than 50 sanctions against Russia, The US has announced more than 500 new sanctions against Russia, Iran delivered at least 400 of its short-range ballistic missiles to Russia
UPDATES: The UK has announced more than 50 further sanctions against Russia. These sanctions target individuals and businesses that are supporting Russian President Vladimir Putin's war effort. Among those targeted are individuals involved in supplying Russia's military with munitions such as rocket launch systems, missiles, and explosives. Additionally, key sources of Russian revenue such as metals, diamonds, and the energy trade are being targeted to cut off funding for President Putin's war efforts.
The US has announced more than 500 new sanctions against Russia. These sanctions target various entities, including Russia's main card payment system, financial and military institutions, and officials involved in the imprisonment of opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Additionally, nearly 100 firms and individuals will face export restrictions, and measures have been imposed on the state-owned operator of Mir, Russia's main payment system. Companies involved in supporting Russia's war effort, developing the country's future energy production, and cooperating with Iran over drones will also be affected. Furthermore, more than two dozen entities outside of Russia have been sanctioned for their connections to businesses that supply materials to Russia's military.
Reuters reported that Iran delivered at least 400 of its short-range Fateh-110 ballistic missiles to Russia in January of this year, and that figure is likely to rise
UK targets Russian military with further sanctions
By James Gregory, BBC News
The UK has announced more than 50 further sanctions against Russia ahead of the second anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine.
The sanctions target individuals and businesses sustaining Russian President Vladimir Putin's war effort.
Foreign Secretary Lord David Cameron said the UK would continue to back Kyiv "for as long as it takes".
It follows the sanctions imposed on six Russian prison bosses after the death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
The Foreign Office said the latest sanctions would crack down on those supplying Russia's military with munitions such as rocket launch systems, missiles and explosives.
The sanctions also target key sources of Russian revenue, clamping down on metals, diamonds and the energy trade, in a move designed to cut off funding for President Putin's war efforts from every angle, officials said.
Announcing the new measures, Lord Cameron said: "Our international economic pressure means Russia cannot afford this illegal invasion.
"Our sanctions are starving Putin of the resources he desperately needs to fund his struggling war.
"Together, we will not let up in the face of tyranny. We will continue to support Ukraine as it fights for democracy - for as long as it takes."
Among those sanctioned are oil trader Niels Troost, and his company Paramount Energy and Commodities SA, and Pavel Alekseevich Marinychev, the new CEO of Alrosa, the largest state-owned Russian diamond producer.
Several foreign companies have also been targeted for their part in facilitating Russia's war effort, the Foreign Office said.
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Taken from CNBC
US targets Russia with more than 500 new sanctions
By George Wright in London & Will Vernon in Washington, BBC News
The US has announced more than 500 new sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine and the death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
These include measures against Russia's main card payment system, financial and military institutions, and officials involved in Navalny's imprisonment.
The EU has also announced new sanctions on access to military technology.
The measures mark a week since Navalny suddenly died in an Arctic Circle jail.
US President Joe Biden, who met Navalny's widow and daughter in San Francisco on Thursday, has said there can be "no doubt" the Russian president was to blame for his death.
The newly-announced US measures also include nearly 100 firms and individuals which will also face export restrictions.
Others target the state-owned operator of Mir, Russia's main payment system, which has become more prominent since Visa and Mastercard suspended their services there.
Companies involved in powering Russia's war effort, developing the country's future energy production and its co-operation with Iran over drones will also be hit.
More than two dozen entities outside of Russia - including people in China, the UAE, Vietnam and Liechtenstein - have also been sanctioned, accused of being connected to businesses that send materials to Russia's military.
The sanctions are unlikely to have an impact on Russia's economy. It is already the most sanctioned country in the world, and there are very few key entities or sectors that are not already subject to US and European restrictions.
Russian banks and military-industrial enterprises have adapted, and developed workarounds to evade existing sanctions.
Ukrainian officials have published details of US and European microchips and other technology they have found in captured Russian drones. Many of these parts are imported to Russia from third countries such as China.
In a statement, President Biden said they new sanctions would "ensure" Russian President Vladimir Putin "pays an even steeper price for his aggression abroad and repression at home".
This latest package brings the number of entities sanctioned to over 4,000, and comes on the eve of the second anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
"Two years ago, he tried to wipe Ukraine off the map. If Putin does not pay the price for his death and destruction, he will keep going," Mr Biden said in the statement.
John Kirby, the spokesperson for the National Security Council, told reporters on Friday that the administration had plans for further action against Russia, but needed to work with international partners and gain greater legal authority from Congress to implement it.
The EU also announced its 13th raft of sanctions on Friday, targeting nearly 200 companies and people accused of helping Russia procure weapons, or of involvement in kidnapping Ukrainian children - something Moscow denies.
They included 10 Russian companies and individuals involved in the shipping of North Korean armaments to Russia, including North Korea's defence minister.
"We remain united in our determination to dent Russia's war machine and help Ukraine win its legitimate fight for self-defence," said EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell.
The EU has now listed more than 2,000 individuals since the war started.
In response, Russia's foreign ministry said it had significantly expanded a list of EU officials and politicians banned from entering Russia.
"The European Union is continuing its fruitless attempts to put pressure on Russia through unilateral restrictive measures," it said in a statement.
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Iran has the largest ballistic missile arsenal in the Middle East. Now it’s sending them to Russia
By Natasha Turak
Iran has sent hundreds of its powerful ballistic missiles to the government of President Vladimir Putin in Russia, furthering the military cooperation between the two U.S. adversaries, Reuters reported this week, citing a number of unnamed senior Iranian military sources.
The reported transfer of the powerful weapons are set to strengthen Putin’s hand in Ukraine as the two-year mark of Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor nears. It follows already-documented weapons cooperation between Tehran and Moscow since 2022, particularly with the transfer of Iranian-made Shahed drones that Russian forces have deployed to deadly effect in Ukraine.
Reuters reported that Iran delivered at least 400 of its short-range Fateh-110 ballistic missiles to Russia in January of this year, and that figure is likely to rise. Iran declined to comment to Reuters while Russia did not immediately respond.
“It was always a matter of when, not if, Iran would transfer ballistic missiles to Russia,” Behnam ben Taleblu, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told CNBC.
“Iranian material support such as drones has kept Putin fighting in Ukraine for much longer than expected. Ballistic missiles will keep him in that fight for longer now.”
In 2022, U.S. Central Command estimated that Iran had over 3,000 ballistic missiles in its arsenal. Iran has in recent years developed advances and upgrades to its Fateh class of missiles improving things like precision, range, lethality, maneuverability, and survivability, analysts say. The Fateh-110 missile has an effective range of 300 kilometers (roughly 190 miles), is known to be highly accurate, and has been used in strikes from Iran into Iraq, Syria and Pakistan.
“Iranian officials have indicated that more missiles are on the way. Iran manufactures the missiles domestically with very little input from foreign sources and can produce them in large numbers for an extended period of time,” analysts at political risk consultancy Eurasia Group wrote in a research note.
“The Iranian missiles offer Russia additional capabilities as it presses its advantage against Kyiv amid delays in additional U.S. aid,” it said.
Russian gains
Russia has chalked a substantial victory in the eastern Ukrainian city of Avdiivka. It symbolizes a painful loss for Ukraine, and hundreds of Ukrainian troops are feared missing, potentially taken prisoner by Russian forces.
The Russian gains come as continuing U.S. aid for Ukraine becomes far less certain. The U.S. Senate in in mid-February passed a $95 billion aid package for Ukraine, Taiwan, and Israel, with about $60 billion slated for Ukraine, but several Congressional Republicans in the House of Representatives are opposing its passage.
Kyiv and its allies also look ahead with worry to the 2024 U.S. election, as a potential Donald Trump presidency could see Ukraine aid cut entirely.
Trump also threatened to abandon the principle of mutual defense under the NATO treaty for member states who do not dedicate at least 2% of their GDP to defense spending, a figure agreed upon in 2014; he even suggested he’d encourage Russia to attack them.
While this raised alarm and condemnation among leaders of several NATO states, without U.S. support, Europe is severely under-equipped to supply Ukraine with what it needs to withstand Russia’s offensive. The U.S. has supplied some $44.9 billion of security assistance to Ukraine, with only Britain coming in as a distant second, to the tune $12 billion.
What does Iran get in return?
Tehran’s relationship with Moscow pays off for its government; already heavily sanction by the U.S. and EU, weapons trade with Russia is a valued source of revenue for the Islamic Republic.
FDD’s Ben Taleblu describes “reports of cash and gold transfers, Western conventional weapons transfers, fighter jet deals, and even assistance with Iran’s space program from Russia. For a risk-tolerant Islamic Republic, the partnership with Russia continues to bear fruit.”
Analysts note that several rounds of Western sanctions on Iran, which have helped cripple its economy, have not been enough to deter it from continuing to sell Russia the lethal weapons it uses in Ukraine. It also stands to gain new military hardware itself.
“The missile deal suggests that an agreement is now in place for Russia to send advanced weapons systems to Iran. Russia delivered a squadron of modern training aircraft to Iran’s air force in September 2023, the first phase in a deal that also includes SU-35 jet interceptors,” Eurasia Group wrote.
The SU-35, Russia’s air-defense fighter jet, would provide Iran “with its first modern combat aircraft in decades significantly expanding its capabilities at a time of mounting tensions with Israel and the U.S.,” the report said.
In terms of Washington’s response, that may be limited – primarily because the Biden administration is reluctant to further escalate tensions in the Middle East. While it can sanction Iran’s weapons programs, it can’t actually intercept the transporting of the missiles to Russia along its supply route; a U.N. arms embargo that barred Iran from selling its missiles expired in 2023.
The weapons supply boost for Russia while Ukraine’s allies appear to stall illustrates what many observers describe as the war’s tide shifting in Russia’s favor.
“As Washington debates standing with Ukraine, Iran continues to cozy up to Russia,” Ben Taleblu said, “marking the furthest reported instance of Iranian ballistic missile proliferation in its history.”
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