White House To Focus on Russian Evasion of Sanctions and ‘Targets’ That Abet It

April 14, 2022 (EIRNS)—Speaking today at the Economic Club of Washington, D.C., National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan announced that in the next couple of weeks, the White House will be announcing new measures to ensure that Russia can’t evade the punitive sanctions imposed on it by the West. Sanctions against Russia have been unprecedented in their harshness, he said, but now “enforcement actions” will be key to prevent any attempt at evasion—by Russia itself or by other unidentified “targets.” China was, of course, raised as a potential facilitator of Russian evasion of sanctions and potential military aid.

When the moderator pointed to the close economic relation between Russia and China and asked whether there were evidence of China aiding Russia militarily or helping it blunt sanctions, Sullivan replied that for now, the U.S. has no hard evidence of such Chinese collusion. “There is no systematic effort by China to defang sanctions now,” he added, but it is a situation that Washington “is closely monitoring.” In order to crack Russia’s attempts to evade sanctions, he remarked, the White House will be identifying and pursuing as yet unnamed “targets” that facilitate evasion “inside Russia and beyond.”