Page 54 - RusRPTJun24

if they want to access European business and financial markets. EU officials said the EC would likely coordinate any similar sanctions on financial institutions with the US, making the tool even more powerful. As well, the US has warned Austrian Raiffeisen Bank International that the bank's access to the US financial system may be limited due to its business in Russia.
The EU will introduce sanctions against Russia's LNG, hitting Moscow and its Asian partners. In the next package of sanctions against Russia, the EU seeks to ban the use of its ports for the re-export of liquefied natural gas. As Bloomberg points out, although blocking access will not prevent cargo from reaching Europe, it will make it more difficult for it to be sent to Asian countries. This will likely cause contract problems for European logistics companies, which face billions in losses, and a political backlash from other gas-buying countries (especially China). Experts say that cargo destined for Asia will remain in Europe. Therefore, Asian countries will have to look for new suppliers, and Europe could be accused of inconsistency - instead of reducing the supply of Russian gas, it increases it. However, the sanctions will further complicate Russia's maritime transportation logistics and force specialized vessels to travel on longer routes. Transporting cargo to Asia will increase freight and logistics costs and icebreaker operating time. Thus, the export of Russian LNG to Asian buyers may diminish or become more expensive.
In December Biden issued an executive order targeting banks that aid Russia’s efforts to avoid sanctions that has proven to be amongst the most effective sanctions so far.
This E.O. amends Executive Order 14024 to expand U.S. authority to sanction:
Financial institutions determined to have conducted or facilitated any significant transaction for or on behalf of companies or individuals the United States has sanctioned for operating in sectors of the Russian economy that support its military industrial base; and
Financial institutions determined to have conducted or facilitated any significant transaction, or provided any service, involving Russia’s military industrial base, including the sale, supply, or transfer to Russia of certain critical items.
Russians are smuggling small, expensive and sophisticated plane spare parts in their luggage, the FT reported on May 10. The luggage trade is a striking example of the unorthodox supply routes that Russian airlines have been forced to rely on since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Hit by sweeping sanctions and export controls, they have had to reinvent the ways they source parts in order to keep their planes in the air.
54 RUSSIA Country Report June 2024 www.intellinews.com