During an interview with Bloomberg on Friday, Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) acknowledged that sanctions against Russian energy are not being enforced as aggressively as they can and that Chinese entities are helping Russia evade sanctions.
Co-host Annmarie Hordern asked, [relevant exchange begins around 35:00] “Senator, there [have] been a lot of sanctions and penalties levied at President Putin and the Russian economy. But, given what we’ve seen in terms of Putin not backing down in Ukraine, we have the latest instance this morning of what the vice president called brutality, with the death of Alexei Navalny. Is it high time that the administration sanctions Russian oil and gas? Because you and I both know that is how Putin is able to fund this war.”
Cardin responded, “Well, we do have sanctions on the energy sector. So, there are sanctions. The question is, how do we enforce those sanctions? And we need to look at secondary sanctions, beyond just a Russian entity, but other countries that are avoiding the sanction regime to be able to take action against their companies that are violating the restriction we have on Russian energies. So, yes, we can enforce the sanctions more aggressively, and Congress may need to provide additional authorities in order for that to be done.”
Hordern then asked, “Well, we do see Europe doing that. They’re going after secondary sanctions, they’re going after some companies in China. Would the U.S. be willing to go after Chinese companies that you think are moving around the current sanctions on Russia?”
Cardin answered, “We have legislation pending before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that does exactly that. It’s under active consideration. And we’re in negotiations right now as to what we can do to enforce sanctions against Russia, including looking at Chinese companies that are violating those sanction regimes.”
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