US Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) introduced sanctions against 20 companies From Russia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, UAE and North Macedonia.
Especially in the SDN List (list of persons and organizations subject to sanctions, which include visa restrictions and blocking of property and accounts of individuals and legal entities. – socialbites.ca) Macedonian Bet City International DOO Skopje, whose beneficiary was Sergei Samsonenko, who founded the betting company Betcity in the early 2000s, fell.
According to OFAC, the entrepreneur himself and his wife Irina, who has Russian and North Macedonian citizenship, bought a land plot from Macedonian entrepreneur Jordan Kamchev in 2017-2018. In July 2023, Kamchev was subject to US sanctions over corruption charges in the Western Balkans, and Samsonenko testified during the trial of Kamchev and his mother, Ratka Koska Kamcheva, accused of money laundering.
In 2021, Samsonenko made a series of payments to Kamchev Konsalting Skopje DOOEL (Kamchev Konsalting) and Orka Fajnans Skopje DOOEL (Orka Fajnans) companies, also affiliated with Kamchev.
Also included in the list of sanctions were the companies ABS Electrical Engineering, Esset Automation, Esset Electro, Dominion Nikolsky, Dominion Tverskaya-Yaroslavskaya, the All-Russian Research, Design and Technology Institute of Relay Production with Pilot Production.
Additionally, ABS ZEiM Automation, Mosen Asset Management, VNIIR Gidroelektroavtomatika, VNIIR Promelektro and VNIIR-Transstroy were also included in the SDN List.
Oil and tankers
Sanctions were imposed on three oil tankers flying the Liberian flag (Kazan, Ligovsky Prospect and NS Century). They are registered with Kazan Shipping, Progress Shipping and Gallion Navigation companies respectively. All these legal entities are located in the UAE.
According to the US State Department, shipping companies and their associated ships are being sanctioned for “carrying Russian oil sold above the established ceiling price” of $60 per barrel.
On December 5, 2022, the G7 countries, the European Union and Australia imposed a price ceiling of $60 per barrel on Russian oil supplied by sea for ships and territories dependent on them. As of February 5, 2023, similar restrictions began to be applied to the supply of petroleum products from Russia. (ceilings per barrel between $100 and $45 depending on the category of oil products). Deputy head of the Russian government Alexander Novak later said that Moscow would not supply oil to countries that artificially limit prices.
Cooperation with China
The State Department continues to argue that the ceiling on Russian oil is effective.
“The U.S. government, along with our price cap coalition partners, is absolutely committed to complying with the price cap and doing everything to reduce Russia’s energy revenues,” said Under Secretary of State for Energy Geoffrey Pyatt.
Additionally, the United States cooperates closely with China on sanctions and oil price ceilings.
“I would like to point out that we are in very intensive cooperation with our Chinese allies on all these issues related to the price cap and the sanctions regime.” reported gives a briefing.