US pushes tighter controls on sanctions loopholes involving Russia

The United States has signaled to its exporters and multinational firms that routes designed to skirt Western sanctions on Russia may be under scrutiny. In reporting that assessment, Bloomberg highlighted Ottawa’s and Washington’s shared concern about the risk of sanction circumvention through specific intermediary markets and trade channels. The underlying message is clear: authorities are intensifying monitoring of deals that could enable Russia to bypass restrictions, with particular attention to countries that have been permissive or ambiguous in their enforcement, including China, Turkey, and a handful of others. This comes as policymakers move to tighten sanctions policy roughly a year after the initial special operation in Ukraine began, aiming to close gaps that can be exploited in the global supply chain.