Biden Approves Sanctions against Banks Which Help Russia Procure Goods for Army

Joe Biden, President of the US, has signed a decree about economic means against foreign financial institutions involved in supplying Russia with sanctioned military goods.

 According to the website of the White House, the US Secretary of Treasury, after consulting with the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Commerce if necessary, will be able to impose sanctions on a foreign financial institution if it helped an individual connected with the technological or defence sector of Russia make a payment.

Another reason for imposing sanctions is providing "any service, involving Russia’s military-industrial base, including the sale, supply, or transfer...of any item or class of items".

"Foreign financial institutions" are any institutions that provide financial services, from banks to pension funds or payment systems operators, as well as their affiliates.

The decree also stipulates that such sanctions may be imposed without a warning, since otherwise there is a risk that sanctioned assets may be hidden.

The document also provides for imposing sanctions on Russian diamonds by updating the other decree about the sanctions against Russia, as it was agreed upon by the G7 leaders earlier this month.

The majority of Western financial institutions have stopped doing business with Russia. However, the representatives of Biden's administration expect that the threat of new sanctions will encourage American and European companies to put pressure on the banks in other countries so that they avoid Russian smuggling schemes.

This week, the US announced that they had entered the next stage of strengthening the sanctions against Russian oil revenues aimed at preventing circumvention of the "price cap" for offshore oil transportation from the Russian Federation and strengthening control over such actions.

Biden´s administration also enhanced efforts concerning the confiscation of about US$300 billion worth of sovereign Russian assets frozen in the territory of Western countries.