U.S. warns banks not to help Russia evade sanctions

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U.S. warns banks not to help Russia evade sanctions

The Biden administration is warning that firms could lose access to markets in the United States and Europe if they support Russian businesses or oligarchs that are facing financial restrictions because of the war in Ukraine and is urging international banks not to help Russia evade sanctions.

A senior Treasury official said that the Biden administration is taking advantage of its ability to enforce sanctions as it looks to isolate Russia from the global economy and highlights the U.S. efforts to exert pressure on the Russian economy through American financial power.

Adewale Adeyemo, the deputy Treasury secretary, laid out the consequences of helping Russians flout sanctions in private meetings on Friday with representatives of international banks in New York. He pointed out the material support provision that states that even though a country has not imposed sanctions on Russia, the company can still face consequences for violating U.S. or European restrictions, including being cut off from those financial systems.

If you give material support to a sanctioned entity or a sanctioned individual, we can extend our sanctions regime to you and use our tools to go after you, Adeyemo said in an interview on Friday. I want to make sure that these institutions that are domiciled and other countries that may not have taken sanctions actions, that the United States and our allies and partners are prepared to act if they do things that violate our sanctions.