Tag Archives: Sanctions

Russia presses forward in a New Phase as US Sanctions fail to bring end to War

Revelations 6:3-4 “when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” 4 And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.

Important Takeaways:

  • US Sanctions Fall Short of Halting Russian War Machine as Ukraine War Enters New Phase
  • “When the Biden administration announced sanctions on the 24th of February, they specifically said, in fact, the president himself tweeted, that their goal was to reduce the ‘ruble to rubble.’ Unfortunately, as we’ve seen today with the ruble trading at higher levels against the dollar since before the attack, by their own metric, the Biden administration has failed,” said Marshall Billingslea, former Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing at the Treasury Department
  • As the fighting in Ukraine again escalates, the Biden administration says it’s committed to raising pressure on Russia.
  • Many observers are asking, however, will it be enough?

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U.S. Treasury targets Russian Aerospace, Marine and Electronic sectors in new Sanctions

Revelations 6:3-4 “ when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” 4 And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.

Important Takeaways:

  • Treasury hits Russia with new sanctions targeting evasion networks, tech
  • The U.S. also expanded its ability to sanction the aerospace, marine and electronics sectors.
  • The sanctions, which follow penalties on Russia’s defense industry last week, are part of a broader administration effort to restrict the country’s access to resources it needs to supply and finance its invasion of Ukraine, the Treasury Department said.
  • Among the sanctioned firms is Moscow-based OOO Serniya Engineering, which the Treasury said is at the center of an illicit network operating under the direction of Russia’s intelligence service to help evade sanctions.
  • Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a statement. “We will continue to target Putin’s war machine with sanctions from every angle, until this senseless war of choice is over.”

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Russia goes to Gold Standard to avoid Sanctions

Rev 6:6 NAS And I heard something like a voice in the center of the four living creatures saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not damage the oil and the wine.”

Important Takeaways:

  • Russia sets fixed gold price as it restarts official bullion purchases
  • Starting this week, the Russian central bank will pay a fixed price of 5,000 rubles ($52) per gram between March 28 and June 30, the bank said on Friday. This is below the current market value of around $68.
  • Gainesville Coins precious metals expert Everett Millman told Kitco News “Setting a fixed price for rubles per gram of gold seems to be the intention. That’s pretty important when it comes to how Russia could seek funding and manage its central bank financing outside of the U.S. dollar system.”
  • Gold is one of the most logical international currencies to use when you are trying to get around sanctions, Millman added.
  • Last week, the U.S. Treasury banned all gold transactions with Russia’s central bank.

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A Cyber-Attack on Any Critical Infrastructure could be Serious

Important Takeaways:

  • On the heels of sanctions, threats of cyber-attacks loom
  • Officials have been warning Americans of potential Russian cyber -attacks in retaliation to US imposed sanctions.
  • Cyber-attacks could include the targeting of critical infrastructure, pointing to the 2021 Colonial pipeline hack.
  • Brown said other crucial sectors that could also be targeted are those such as the financial sector, as banks have been preparing for cyber-attacks.
  • Mark Kleene, owner of MVK Financial Planning agreed, saying that having a cash [on hand] position wouldn’t hurt…

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Steve Gray: Beijing will be Primary Beneficiary of Russia Sanctions

Matthew 24:6 “And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet.”

Important Takeaways:

  • China is ‘big winner’ of Russia-Ukraine war, former FBI agent who worked in China warns
  • “They’ll be the primary beneficiary of the sanctions against Russia, the yen will benefit from the decline of the ruble, and they have been given a case study of what the world’s response would look like if they were to invade Taiwan.”
  • “It would not be surprising at all to learn that this is shaping up exactly as China planned,” Gray, who spent 10 years working as a supervisory special agent focused on China and North Korea, added.
  • “From my experience as an FBI supervisory special agent working on China and North Korea, I know that the Chinese Communist Party is perpetually and patiently planning to take our place as global leaders,” he warned. “As Americans, we need to be cognizant of this threat.”
  • Although European countries have joined the U.S. in imposing hefty sanctions on Russia amid the Ukraine war, they have mostly spared Russia’s energy industry of such economic warfare, because much of Europe is dependent on Russia for energy.

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Trudeau Announces Sanctions Against Russia “Takes a Stand Against Authoritarianism”

Canada's Prime Minister

Proverbs 25:19 “Trusting in a treacherous man in time of trouble is like a bad tooth or a foot that slips.”

Important Takeaways:

  • After Invoking Emergency Powers, Trudeau Announces Canada Will ‘Stand Against Authoritarianism,’ Announces Sanctions Against Russia
  • His comments come just days after Trudeau invoked the Emergencies Act in Canada, used for a forceful crackdown on peaceful protesters engaged in a ‘Freedom Convoy’ against government mandates.
  • “Canada and our allies will defend democracy,” Trudeau declared. “We are taking these actions today, to stand against authoritarianism.”
  • “We will continue working with our international partners to safeguard Ukraine’s territorial integrity and prevent further Russian aggression,” he added.

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Turkey curbs flights to Belarus to ease migrant crisis

By Robin Emmott and Tuvan Gumrukcu

BRUSSELS/ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkey banned Syrian, Yemeni and Iraqi citizens from flights to Minsk on Friday, potentially closing off one of the main routes that the EU says Belarus has used to fly in migrants by the thousand to engineer a humanitarian crisis on its frontier.

Thousands of migrants from the Middle East are sheltering in freezing conditions in the woods on the border between Belarus and the EU states Poland and Lithuania, which are refusing to let them cross. Some have already died and there are fears for the safety of the rest as bitter winter conditions settle in.

The EU accuses Belarus of creating the crisis as part of a “hybrid attack” on the bloc – distributing Belarusian visas in the Middle East, flying in the migrants and pushing them to cross the border illegally. Brussels may impose new sanctions on Belarus and airlines it blames for ferrying the migrants, as soon as Monday.

EU officials welcomed Friday’s announcement by Turkey’s Civil Aviation General Directorate that Syrians, Yemenis and Iraqis would not be permitted to buy tickets to Belarus or board flights there from Turkish territory.

Turkey has denied playing a direct role by allowing its territory to be used to ferry in migrants. But Minsk airport’s website listed six commercial flights arriving from Istanbul on Friday, the most from any city outside the former Soviet Union.

European officials have repeatedly said their best hope of resolving the crisis is to stop would-be migrants in the Middle East from boarding flights for Belarus at the source, and that diplomats were negotiating in the region to achieve this.

“These contacts are already showing fruit,” a European Commission spokesperson said.

The EU spokesperson said Iraqi Airways had also agreed to halt flights to Belarus. A spokesperson for the airline said all airlines in Iraq had already suspended flights to Belarus several months ago at the request of the Iraqi government.

Belarus denies that it has fomented the crisis, but has also said it cannot help resolve it unless Europe lifts existing sanctions. The EU imposed several rounds of measures in response to President Alexander Lukashenko’s violent crackdown on mass street protests against his rule in 2020.

Lukashenko, a close ally of Russia, threatened this week to cut off Russian gas supplies delivered to Europe through Belarusian territory. On Friday, the Kremlin appeared to distance itself from that threat, saying it was not consulted in advance of Lukashenko’s remarks and it would fulfil its gas delivery contracts.

But Moscow shows no sign of leaning on Lukashenko to resolve the border crisis, and has made a number of demonstrations of its military support for him in recent days. Russian and Belarusian paratroopers held joint drills near the border on Friday, and the Russian air force has sent planes this week to patrol the frontier.

“From our point of view, the Russian president has the possibility to influence the situation and we expect him to take appropriate steps,” a German government spokesperson said.

At the border, Polish authorities said they had foiled 223 attempts to cross the border illegally from Belarus overnight, including two large groups. They estimate the number of migrants trapped along the border at 3,000-4,000.

Neighboring Lithuania reported 110 crossing attempts overnight and said it would be finishing a 100-km razor wire barrier along the border by Dec. 10, three weeks ahead of schedule.

FREEZING CONDITIONS

The EU has so far fully backed Poland and Lithuania in taking a hard line on banning illegal crossings from Belarus, for fear that allowing even a small number to enter would encourage huge numbers to follow them.

But charities and advocates say the freezing conditions have created a humanitarian emergency, and that European states have an obligation to allow access to provide food and shelter. The media has also been kept away, which critics say is concealing the extent of the crisis.

“Access for independent observers and the media is essential,” said Iwo Los, from Grupa Granica (Border Group), a Polish organization. “These people…have to receive humanitarian aid, medical aid and this aid must be provided to them on both sides of the border.”

The Baltic nations bordering Belarus have warned that the crisis could escalate into a military confrontation. The Presidents of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia will meet on Monday in Vilnius to discuss the crisis and be joined by video link by Poland’s president Andrzej Duda, the Lithuanian president’s office said on Friday.

Interior ministers of the four countries are also due to call on international organizations to help avert a humanitarian crisis by engaging directly with Minsk.

“We call upon you to engage with Belarusian authorities and other relevant stakeholders in order to organize humanitarian and medical assistance for the people whose arrival to their territory they have organized themselves,” they will say according to a copy of the letter seen by Reuters.

(Reporting Robin Emmott and Marine Strauss in Brussels, Pawel Florkiewicz and Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk in Warsaw, Tuvan Gumrukcu in Ankara, Andrius Sytas in Kapciamietsis, Lithuania, Dmitry Antonov and Andrew Osborn in Moscow, Ahmed Rasheed in Baghdad; Writing by Jan Lopatka and Tomasz Janowski; Editing by Peter Graff)

‘An epidemic’ of coups, U.N. chief laments, urging Security Council to act

By Michelle Nichols

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – U.N. chief Antonio Guterres assailed what he called “an epidemic of coup d’états” on Tuesday and urged the Security Council to act to effectively deter them as the 15-member body prepared to discuss the military takeover in Sudan.

“The Sudanese people has shown very clearly their intense desire for reform and democracy,” the secretary-general told reporters as he again condemned the Sudanese army’s seizure of power on Monday and urged all parties to exercise “maximum restraint.”

Sudan’s top general Abdel Fattah al-Burhan on Tuesday defended the military takeover, saying he had ousted the government of Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok to avoid civil war.

It is the latest in a series of military takeovers in Myanmar, Mali and Guinea and attempted coups in several other countries.

The Security Council – which has the ability to impose sanctions or authorize military action – has been split on how to approach various conflicts, with the United States and other western council members pitted against Russia and China. It was due to meet behind closed doors on Sudan on Tuesday.

Guterres pointed to strong geopolitical divides, Security Council “difficulties in taking strong measures” and the economic and social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic as creating “an environment in which some military leaders feel that they have total impunity, they can do whatever they want because nothing will happen to them.”

“My appeal, obviously, is for – especially the big powers – to come together for the unity of the Security Council in order to make sure that there is effective deterrence in relation to this epidemic of coup d’états,” Guterres said. “We have seen that effective deterrence today is not in place.”

The council has issued statements expressing concern about the situation in Myanmar and condemning the military takeover in Mali. It is discussing a possible statement on Sudan, diplomats said.

(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Howard Goller)

U.S. grants licenses for more aid flow to Afghanistan despite sanctions

By Daphne Psaledakis

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – The United States on Friday further paved the way for aid to flow to Afghanistan despite U.S. sanctions on the Taliban, who seized control of the country last month, issuing general licenses amid concern that Washington’s punitive measures could compound an unfolding humanitarian crisis.

The U.S. Treasury Department said it issued two general licenses, one allowing the U.S. government, NGOs and certain international organizations, including the United Nations, to engage in transactions with the Taliban or Haqqani Network – both under sanctions – that are necessary to provide humanitarian assistance.

The second license authorizes certain transactions related to the export and re-export of food, medicine and medical devices.

“Treasury is committed to facilitating the flow of humanitarian assistance to the people of Afghanistan and other activities that support their basic human needs,” Andrea Gacki, director of the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, said in the statement.

She added that Washington will continue to work with financial institutions, NGOs and international organizations to ease the flow of agricultural goods, medicine and other resources while upholding sanctions on the Taliban, Haqqani Network and others.

The United Nations said that at the start of the year more than 18 million people – about half of Afghanistan’s population – require aid amid the second drought in four years.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said last week that Afghanistan is on “the verge of a dramatic humanitarian disaster” and has decided to engage the Taliban in order to help the country’s people.

U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration has said it is committed to allowing humanitarian work in Afghanistan to continue despite Washington listing the Taliban as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist group.

The sanctions freeze any U.S. assets of the Islamist militant group and bar Americans from dealing with them, including the contribution of funds, goods or services.

Reuters reported last month that Washington issued a license authorizing the U.S. government and its partners to continue to facilitate humanitarian aid in Afghanistan.

Friday’s move expands on that specific license, allowing international organizations and NGOs to pay taxes, fees, import duties or permits, licenses or other necessary transactions for assistance to reach the people of Afghanistan.

A Taliban offensive as foreign forces withdrew from Afghanistan after a 20-year war culminated in the capture of the capital Kabul on Aug. 15, two decades after they were driven from power by a U.S.-led campaign in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.

(Reporting by Daphne Psaledakis; Editing by Mary Milliken and Grant McCool)

U.S. slaps sanctions on Nord Stream 2, project’s opponents say not enough

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The Biden administration on Friday slapped sanctions on one Russian vessel and two Russian individuals involved in the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, but opponents of nearly-completed project said the move would do little to stop it.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement that the administration has now sanctioned a total of seven persons and identified 16 of their vessels as blocked property under sanctions law passed by Congress.

U.S. President Joe Biden separately issued an executive order on Friday allowing for sanctions to be imposed with respect to certain Russian energy export pipelines.

But opponents of the $11 billion project to bring Russian gas to Germany under the Baltic Sea said the new sanctions were not strong enough.

“These sanctions do nothing to halt Nord Stream 2,” said Daniel Vajdich, president of Yorktown Solutions, which advises the Ukrainian energy industry on the matter.

Biden has opposed the pipeline, like the previous two U.S. presidents, because it bypasses Ukraine, likely depriving it of lucrative gas transit fees and potentially undermining its struggle against Russian aggression.

But in May the U.S. State Department waived two sanctions on Nord Stream 2 AG, the company behind the project, and its chief executive, Matthias Warning, a Putin ally.

Biden has sought to repair U.S. relations with Germany, Europe’s biggest economy, as he needs the ally’s help on everything from the economy to relations with China and Iran.

“The only thing that can stop NS2 from becoming operational is lifting the waivers and sanctioning … Nord Stream AG, which they refuse to do,” Vajdich said.

Nord Stream 2, led by Russian state energy company Gazprom and its Western partners, is almost complete with only 9 miles (15 km) left to construct, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday.

ClearView Energy Partners, a Washington-based nonpartisan research group, estimated it could be completed by September 3.

(Reporting by Timothy Gardner; Susan Heavey and Tim Ahmann; editing by Chris Reese, Kirsten Donovan)