U.S. Supports Seizing Russian Assets, Seeks ‘Effective Methodologies’ To Identify Sanction Evaders

The Biden administration on Tuesday voiced its strongest support for the world’s largest economies seizing Russian assets to help Ukraine’s war efforts and reconstruction, TURAN’s Washington correspondent reports.

“There is a strong international law, economic and moral case for moving forward,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in remarks before meeting with G7 nations, arguing that it could push Russia to negotiate an end to the war.

“The G7 should work together to explore a number of approaches that have been suggested,” she said.

Yellen’s message came on the same day as the Treasury Department hosted a roundtable with U.S. regional financial institutions on countering Russian sanctions evasion.

The meeting discussed effective methodologies regarding identification of potential Russian evasion and the risks involved in engaging in international business that may be linked to Russia, according to the Treasury Department’s readout.

Last week, marking two years of Russia’s unprovoked and unlawful full-scale war against Ukraine, U.S. sanctioned almost 300 individuals and entities, including third-country sanctions evaders in Europe, East Asia, Central Asia, and the Middle East as well as hundreds of entities in Russia’s military-industrial base.