In an interview with Bloomberg on Friday, Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) said that sanctions on Russian energy are not being enforced as aggressively as they could be and that Chinese companies are helping Russia evade sanctions. admitted that it was.
co-host Anne-Marie Hordern asked. [relevant exchange begins around 35:00] “Senator, there you are. [have] A number of sanctions and penalties have been imposed on President Putin and the Russian economy. But given what we’ve seen in terms of President Putin not backing down on the situation in Ukraine, this morning we found the latest example of what the vice president called an atrocity: the death of Alexei Navalny. Is it time for the administration to impose sanctions on Russian oil and gas? Because you and I both know that’s how Putin can fund this war. ”
Mr. Cardan said, “Well, we have sanctions against the energy sector. So there are sanctions. The question is how do we enforce these sanctions? And we believe that only Russian companies Instead, we need to look to secondary sanctions, including other countries that evade the sanctions regime, so that we can take action against our own companies that violate our restrictions on Russian energy. So, yes, we can enforce sanctions more aggressively, and that may require Congress to give us additional authority.”
Mr. Hordern then asked: “I’m sure Europe is doing that. They’re pursuing secondary sanctions, they’re going after some companies in China. You’re saying they’re working around the current sanctions against Russia. Is the U.S. willing to go after Chinese companies that think that way?”
“There is a bill before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that would do just that, and it is under intense consideration,” Cardan said. We are negotiating what we can do to trigger it.”
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