The U.S. Department of the Treasury has announced sanctions against Russian schemes to circumvent restrictions on the sale of military goods.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury announced this.

The US sanctions targeted a network of legal entities in Russia, China, and Kyrgyzstan. They created a scheme to circumvent sanctions by facilitating cross-border payments for military goods. In total, the new US sanctions affected about 250 individuals and legal entities.

“This action targets a sanctions evasion scheme established between actors in Russia and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to facilitate cross-border payments for sensitive goods. In addition, Treasury is designating a Kyrgyz Republic-based financial institution that coordinated with Russian officials and a U.S.-designated bank to implement a sanctions evasion scheme,” the statement said.

Companies under sanctions

The scheme reportedly involves U.S.-designated Russian financial institutions: Public Joint Stock Company Sberbank of Russia, Joint Stock Company Alfa-Bank, Open Joint Stock Company Sovcombank, T-Bank, and Limited Liability Company Bank Tochka.

Since at least summer 2024, officials at Kyrgyz Republic-based OJSC Keremet Bank (Keremet Bank) have coordinated with Russian officials and U.S.-designated Russian bank Promsvyazbank Public Joint Stock Company (PSB) to implement a sanctions evasion scheme wherein Keremet Bank would facilitate cross-border transfers on PSB’s behalf.

In 2024, the Kyrgyzstani Ministry of Finance sold a controlling stake in Keremet Bank to a firm strongly linked to a Russian oligarch, Ilan Sho, who has ties to the Russian government. The purchase of Keremet Bank was intended to create a sanctions evasion hub for Russia to pay for imports and receive payment for exports.

According to European Pravda, Chinese companies involved in the supply of components for the production of Russian glide bombs and Lancet attack drones have been sanctioned.

As well as the Chinese manufacturer of Garpiya UAVs used in Russia’s war against Ukraine.

As previously reported, a network of Chinese companies supplying servos for UMPC planning modules and Shahed UAVs to Russia was recently exposed. They illegally use the name of the Taiwanese company TRC to avoid sanctions.

The investigation revealed that although the name of the Taiwanese company appears in the procurement documents, the real TRC company has nothing to do with these parts.

The real manufacturer of the servos was the Chinese company KST Digital Technology Limited.