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restrictions, but also assess and prevent the risks of re-exporting military goods. In addition, all contracts for the transfer of military technology to third countries must include a “Russian clause.” Also, European companies and their subsidiaries in third countries are prohibited from working with the Financial Message Transmission System (SPFS) - the Russian analogue of SWIFT - as well as conducting transactions with companies that use SPFS. This could further complicate settlements with banks in friendly countries for Russian imports, already complicated due to secondary US sanctions.
This time the list of sanctioned individuals turned out to be rich. The sanctions included the author of the main patriotic anthem of the war era, the singer Shaman, the mother of Ramzan Kadyrov, the creator of the publications Life and Mash Aram Gabrelyanov and others. In the EU, access to RIA Novosti, Izvestia and Rossiyskaya Gazeta will also be prohibited. The sanctions list also included the Internet Development Institute, a de facto branch of the presidential administration, which after the start of the war became the center for distributing billions of grants for propaganda content, including relatively subtle ones. The largest Russian cargo airline Volga-Dnepr and Ural Airlines were also subject to sanctions.
Work on 15th sanctions package against Russia to 'start immediately,' Finnish FM says. The EU Council adopted the 14th round of sanctions against Russia on June 24, aimed at tackling the circumvention of existing measures and to further restrict profits from Russia's energy industry.
The U.S. government adopted a new set of sanctions to limit Russia’s access to energy-related revenues, international financial instruments, and technology in mid-July that can be used in the war against Ukraine. According to a press release from the U.S. Treasury Department, the new sanctions target more than 300 entities in and outside of Russia in order to further isolate Russia’s war economy. “Today's actions strike at their remaining avenues for international materials and equipment, including their reliance on critical supplies from third countries,” U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said. In addition to broadening sanctions against Russia’s domestic military industrial complex, the U.S. is also extending sanctions to third-country companies that aid this sector, including companies in China, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and several other countries that have been used as transit over the past few years.
The sanctions package includes several Russian financial institutions, such as the Moscow Exchange (MOEX) and its subsidiary, the National Clearing Center (NCC). “Putin has approved a series of measures to further attract capital through MOEX from both Russian and non-Russian persons from ‘friendly countries’—expanding opportunities for both Russians and non-Russians to profit from the Kremlin’s war machine,” the U.S. Treasury Department explained. As a result of the sanctions, Russia’s largest stock exchange was forced to suspend trading in dollars and euros on June 13. From now on, the Central Bank will set the exchange rate of the ruble to the dollar and euro using bank reports and data received from digital over-the-counter trading platforms. Although Russians should still be able to exchange currencies through lenders, as The Bell notes, the new measures will likely make imported products more expensive and may increase the volatility of the ruble.
43 RUSSIA Country Report July 2024 www.intellinews.com