Russian Companies Active in Syria at Risk of U.S. Sanctions

Kasia Klimasinska
Published by Bloomberg, May 22, 2014

The Obama administration may conclude that the road to Donetsk leads on to Damascus.

What started as a campaign to punish Vladimir Putin for annexing Crimea and menacing eastern Ukraine could morph into a larger effort to increase pressure on the Russian leader by imposing sanctions on Russian companies supporting the regime in Syria.

The first such move related to the Syria conflict came May 8, when the U.S. Treasury targeted OAO Tempbank and a senior bank executive, saying the Russian institution “has provided millions of dollars in cash and facilitated financial services to the Syrian regime.” Following sanctions on 45 individuals and 19 business entities over Ukraine, the Tempbank designation signaled the Obama administration is looking for more pressure points to influence Russia’s behavior.

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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-05-23/russian-companies-active-in-syria-seen-at-risk-of-u-s-sanctions.html