The United States on Thursday imposed one of its largest sanctions packages related to the war in Ukraine, penalizing more than 150 companies and individuals that officials said were profiting from Russia’s invasion and their proximity to the Kremlin and President Vladimir V. Putin.
The sanctions are part of the U.S. effort “to target Russia’s military supply chains and deprive Putin of the equipment, technology, and services he needs to wage his barbaric war on Ukraine,” Janet L. Yellen, secretary of the Treasury, said in a statement.
“Today’s actions show our global reach in imposing severe costs on Putin’s oligarchs,” she added.
The Treasury Department’s sanctions targeted nearly 100 Russian military-linked elites and individuals — including some in Turkey, Georgia, Finland and the United Arab Emirates — involved with Russia’s industrial, financial and technology industries. One individual, Vitalij Victorovich Perfilev, was identified as an official with the Wagner mercenary group who served as the national security adviser to the Central African Republic’s president.
The State Department’s measures focused on more than 70 individuals, including Pavel Pavlovich Shevelin, identified as being affiliated with Wagner and having facilitated arms shipments between North Korea and Russia. Among the other targets were a Georgian-Russian oligarch, Otar Anzorovich Partskhaladze, and a Russian intelligence officer, Aleksandr Vladimirovich Onishchenko.
Five companies and one individual from Turkey, a NATO member, were designated for supporting sanctioned vessels tied to Russia’s defense industry and for helping Moscow evade sanctions.
Russia, which has been searching for ways to evade the existing net of Western sanctions, has mined its relationship with Turkey for avenues to ease restrictions. Since his full-scale invasion of Ukraine last February, Mr. Putin has drawn closer to Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and the two have expanded their economic and diplomatic partnerships, much to the concern of Turkey’s fellow NATO members.
The newly imposed sanctions also targeted several companies and individuals, including a Finland-based network, that have shipped electronics — including computers, drones and software — into Russia.
The State Department said in a news release that the sanctions were aimed in part at companies, including an Abu Dhabi-based engineering firm, involved in developing key energy projects, like Russia’s ambitious plans for a liquefied natural gas plant off its Arctic coast.
