United States to Take Strong Action Against Financial Firms Assisting Russia

President Joe Biden on Friday signed an executive order granting the Treasury Department broad powers to clamp down on financial firms that help Russia buy military supplies, CBS News reported.

“We expect financial institutions will undertake every effort to ensure that they are not witting or unwitting facilitators of circumvention and evasion,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a statement announcing the order. “And we will not hesitate to use the new tools provided by this authority to take decisive, and surgical, action against financial institutions that facilitate the supply of Russia’s war machine.”

Russia is looking to restock its military arsenal after nearly two years of fighting in Ukraine. Many international banks do not conduct business with Russia directly to avoid sanctions and penalties, but have worked with shadowy financial firms’ institutions to help Moscow gain access to banned products.

A New York Times report earlier this month said Russia had obtained tech components it needed to keep its economy and the war in Ukraine ongoing by using specialized e-commerce sites, secretive shipping workarounds and middlemen, after export restrictions and corporate bans led to trade disruptions.

National adviser Jake Sullivan said the order will “continue tightening the screws on Russia’s war machine and its enablers.”

“These new sanctions authorities will make clear to foreign financial institutions that facilitating significant transactions relating to Russia’s military industrial base will expose them to sanctions risk,” Sullivan said in a statement. “We are sending an unmistakable message: anyone supporting Russia’s unlawful war effort is at risk of losing access to the U.S. financial system.”