The Trump administration also blacklisted Russian companies and individuals suspected of trying to circumvent US sanctions imposed in June in response to cyberattacks
The Trump administration added to its growing list of sanctions against Russia on Tuesday by blacklisting two companies and two individuals suspected of trying to circumvent US sanctions imposed in June in response to cyberattacks.
It also imposed sanctions against two Russian shipping companies suspected of transferring petroleum products to North Korean vessels in violation of UN Security Council resolutions.
The US Treasury targeted Primorye Maritime Logistics Co and Gudzon Shipping Co, based in the city of Vladivostok, and six of their vessels. The department said that earlier this year, one vessel linked to the Russian companies transferred 3,500 tons of oil to ships flying the North Korea flag.
The announcement of the actions came as US lawmakers urged tighter economic restrictions on Moscow and Britain’s top diplomat accused Russia’s leader of pursuing policies that are making the world more dangerous.
While US President Donald Trump has sought closer ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin, his administration has intensified economic pressure on Moscow over what it describes as “malign Russian activity” in Ukraine and Syria and Russia’s attempts to disrupt Western democracies.
Senior officials from the State and Treasury departments told two Senate hearings on Tuesday that since January 2017,217 Russian businesspeople, officials and private and state-run companies, including 14 banks and 20 energy firms, have been sanctioned.
In addition, they recalled that the administration had expelled 60 Russian spies and closed Russia’s consulates in San Francisco and Seattle.
Marshall Billingslea, the US Treasury Department’s top terrorist financing official, acknowledged that the threat from Russia was “significant and continuing” but told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that without the sanctions “their behaviour would be even further off the charts”.
