Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced sanctions on a sweeping roster of individuals and entities from People’s Republic of China (PRC), Türkiye, and the United Arab Emirates (the UAE) abetting Russia’s war against Ukraine by providing Russia with technology and equipment from third countries.
With these designations, Treasury is disrupting producers, exporters, and importers of nearly all of the high-priority items identified by the international coalition imposing sanctions and export controls on Russia.
The U.S. Department of State is also issuing nearly 100 sanctions today targeting Russia’s future energy production and revenue, metals and mining sector, defense procurement, and those involved in supporting the Russian government’s war effort and other malign activities.
Unable to domestically produce much of the technology, equipment, and other materiel it needs to sustain and maintain its military-industrial complex, Russia has offshored that production, relying on third-country suppliers to acquire the goods it needs.
Russia continues to exploit otherwise legitimate economic relationships with the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Türkiye, and the United Arab Emirates (the UAE), which have become hubs for exporting, reexporting, and transshipping to Russia foreign-made technology and equipment.
Entities based in the PRC, Türkiye, and the UAE continue to send high-priority dual-use goods to Russia, including critical components that Russia relies on for its weapons systems (“high-priority goods”). While Treasury will continue to work with the Governments of the PRC, Türkiye, and the UAE to address potential sanctions and export control vulnerabilities together in the spirit of bilateral cooperation, Treasury will not hesitate to take action to prevent Russia from using the U.S. and international financial systems to sustain its war of aggression against Ukraine.
The sanctions also target a wide array of Russia-based industrial firms that produce, import, distribute, and repair industrial machinery, machine tools, spare parts, additive manufacturing (including 3D printing) equipment, ball bearings, and other industrial equipment and materials, as well as Russia-based entities and individuals that finance, research, develop, or import advanced technology, including Russia’s finance and technology conglomerate Sistema.
Sistema Public Joint Stock Financial Corporation (Sistema) is one of Russia’s largest publicly-traded diversified holding companies, with involvement in the defense, financial, and technology industries. Sistema was designated pursuant to E.O. 14024 for operating or having operated in the financial services and technology sectors of the Russian Federation economy. Sistema has also been sanctioned by the United Kingdom.
OFAC also designated three Sistema subsidiaries pursuant to E.O. 14024 for being owned or controlled by, or having acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, Sistema: 1. Luxembourg-based East West United Bank SA 2. Singapore-based Sistema Asia PTE LTD and 3. Russia-based Sistema Smarttekh
Public Joint Stock Company Saint Petersburg Exchange (SPBX) is a Russia-based brokerage providing access for investors to the international stock markets, including the Russian stock market. SPBX was designated pursuant to E.O. 14024 for operating or having operated in the financial services sector of the Russian Federation economy.
In addition to entities from Russia, PRC, Türkiye and the UAE, the sanctions include companies and nationals from Ireland, Latvia, Cyprus and Switzerland.
In addition to those entities, Treasury also took action today to disrupt a Türkiye-based illicit procurement network with ties to Russian intelligence services.
Turkish national Berk Turken is the owner of Türkiye-based firms BSB Grup Internet Ve Yapay Zeka Teknolojileri Anonim Sirketi (BSB Group) and Turken Dijital Matbaa Teknolojileri Bilgisayar Bilisim Kirtasiye Fotografcilik Sanayi Ve Dis Ticaret Limited Sirketi (Turken Digital). BSB Group was established in 2021 by Berk Turken and is wholly owned by him. Berk Turken and Turken Digital have been involved in enabling Russian intelligence services to procure technology for sanctioned Russian entities. Turken Digital has worked with U.S.-designated Limited Liability Company TBS (TBS) and Andrey Vladimirovich Timoshin (Timoshin) to arrange payment and shipping details to overcome sanctions barriers and move goods from Türkiye to Russia. TBS and Timoshin were designated in May 2023. TBS is a technology company located in Moscow that provides testing systems for the microelectronic industry. Russia’s intelligence services have used TBS to enable payments and ship equipment on behalf of Russian customers. Timoshin worked with TBS and other companies to procure semiconductor and nanotechnology production equipment for sanctioned Russian entities. Timoshin’s procurement activity was directed by Russia’s intelligence services.
Berk Turken and Turken Digital were designated pursuant to E.O. 14024 for operating or having operated in the technology sector of the Russian Federation economy. BSB Group was designated pursuant to E.O. 14024 for being owned or controlled by, or having acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, Berk Turken.
The Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is issuing Russia-related General License 13G, "Authorizing Certain Administrative Transactions Prohibited by Directive 4 under Executive Order 14024"; Russia-related General License 74, "Authorizing the Wind Down and Rejection of Transactions Involving East-West United Bank"; Russia-related General License 75, "Authorizing Certain Transactions Related to Debt or Equity of, or Derivative Contracts Involving, Certain Entities Blocked on November 2, 2023"; and Russia-related General License 76, "Authorizing the Wind Down of Transactions Involving Certain Entities Blocked on November 2, 2023."
The Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) List has also been updated. Please visit this page to access the latest version of the SDN list. Check this page periodically as it may also be updated if a new list-related format or product is offered.
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