Current:Home > ScamsBiden signs executive order targeting financial facilitators of Russian defense industry -Aspire Financial Strategies
Biden signs executive order targeting financial facilitators of Russian defense industry
View
Date:2025-04-17 04:07:16
Washington — President Biden signed an executive order giving the Treasury Department the authority to target financial institutions that facilitate Russia's efforts to bolster its defense industry.
The new sanctions authority is meant to gum up the Kremlin's push to restock the Russian military's depleted arsenal after nearly 22 months of fighting in Ukraine. Russia has already lost over 13,000 pieces of equipment, including tanks, drones and missile systems, according to a U.S. assessment.
The White House said Mr. Biden signed the order Friday morning.
"We expect financial institutions will undertake every effort to ensure that they are not witting or unwitting facilitators of circumvention and evasion," Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a statement announcing the order. "And we will not hesitate to use the new tools provided by this authority to take decisive, and surgical, action against financial institutions that facilitate the supply of Russia's war machine."
National security adviser Jake Sullivan said the executive order will "continue tightening the screws on Russia's war machine and its enablers."
"These new sanctions authorities will make clear to foreign financial institutions that facilitating significant transactions relating to Russia's military industrial base will expose them to sanctions risk," he said in a statement. "We are sending an unmistakable message: anyone supporting Russia's unlawful war effort is at risk of losing access to the U.S. financial system."
The latest effort to tighten pressure on Russia comes just weeks after Mr. Biden and G7 leaders met virtually to discuss support for Ukraine as rancor spreads in Washington over the cost of backing Kyiv in a war that has no end it sight.
The White House has been locked in talks with key lawmakers to approve more money for Ukraine. Mr. Biden has proposed $110 billion package of wartime aid for Ukraine, Israel and other national security priorities. GOP lawmakers have declined to approve the money until the White House agrees to major immigration and U.S.-Mexico border policy changes. The Defense Department says it has nearly run out of available funds for supporting Ukraine's defense.
The G7 leaders said in a statement following the Dec. 6 meeting that they would work to curtail Russia's use of the international financial system to further its war in Ukraine and target "Russian military procurement networks and those who help Russia acquire machine tools, equipment and key inputs."
Russian defense spending rose by almost 75% in the first half of 2023, and Russia is on track to devote a record amount to defense next year.
"This executive order comes at a critical juncture," Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo wrote in a Financial Times op-ed published Friday. "By raising the stakes for banks supporting sensitive trade with Russia and continuing to sanction new front companies and procurement networks, our coalition is pouring sand into the gears of Russia's military logistics."
- In:
- Mexico
- Joe Biden
- Janet Yellen
- Ukraine
- Politics
- Russia
veryGood! (339)
Related
- 'Survivor' 47 finale, part one recap: 2 players were sent home. Who's left in the game?
- Sudan now one of the 'worst humanitarian nightmares in recent history'
- Sweetgreen adding meat options to menu with protein plates, now available nationwide
- Can the Latest $10 million in EPA Grants Make a Difference in Achieving Chesapeake Bay Restoration Goals?
- South Korea's acting president moves to reassure allies, calm markets after Yoon impeachment
- Live updates | Israel’s bombardment in Gaza surges, reducing buildings to rubble
- Japan’s automakers unveil EVs galore at Tokyo show to catch up with Tesla, other electric rivals
- FDA says the decongestant in your medicine cabinet probably doesn't work. Now what?
- The 401(k) millionaires club keeps growing. We'll tell you how to join.
- City of Orlando buys Pulse nightclub property to build memorial to massacre victims
Ranking
- This was the average Social Security benefit in 2004, and here's what it is now
- Support for Israel becomes a top issue for Iowa evangelicals key to the first Republican caucuses
- Will Arch Manning play for Texas this week? What that could mean for his future
- Indiana sheriff’s deputies fatally shoot man, 19, who shot at them, state police say
- Federal appeals court upholds $14.25 million fine against Exxon for pollution in Texas
- Carnival ruled negligent over cruise where 662 passengers got COVID-19 early in pandemic
- Alicia Navarro update: What we know about former boyfriend Edmund Davis and child sex abuse charges
- Hungary hosts international training for military divers who salvage unexploded munitions
Recommendation
Why Sean "Diddy" Combs Is Being Given a Laptop in Jail Amid Witness Intimidation Fears
Georgia man killed himself as officers sought to ask him about escapees, authorities say
Australia state visit to feature talk of submarines and tech partnerships — and a lavish dinner
As student loan repayment returns, some borrowers have sticker shock
House passes bill to add 66 new federal judgeships, but prospects murky after Biden veto threat
Vietnam’s Vinfast committed to selling EVs to US despite challenges, intense competition
NYU student, criticized and lost job offer for Israel-Hamas remarks, speaks out
Her boy wandered from home and died. This mom wants you to know the perils of 'elopement.'