The Biden administration on Friday suspended exports to Russia of a wide range of consumer goods and added 71 companies to a trade blacklist, while the Group of Seven of the world’s richest democracies also announced new sanctions against Moscow over its war. in Ukraine, Reuters and News.ro report.

The new U.S. restrictions target items that could be used to aid the Russian military, including everyday items such as clothes dryers, snow blowers and milking machines that have components that the U.S. believes could be reused to support military machine of Moscow.

“Now you can’t even ship contact lenses or sunglasses,” said attorney Kevin Wolf, a former U.S. Commerce Department official, reviewing the new rules. Wolff says that “it would be easier to describe the positions that are not subject to export controls to Russia.”

The blacklist includes 69 Russian companies, one from Armenia and one from Kyrgyzstan. They were added to the Ministry of Commerce’s “List of Organizations” mainly because they support Russia’s military sectors. Thus, sending goods from the USA to them is prohibited. These companies include aircraft repair and spare parts production, gunpowder, tractor and automobile factories, shipyards and engineering centers of Russia.

“We will continue to impose costs on the Kremlin to continue this war”

The United States and a coalition of 37 other countries have imposed multiple sanctions packages of unprecedented scale in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The goal is to degrade Moscow’s industrial base and its ability to wage war.

“We will continue to impose costs on the Kremlin for continuing this war, both by further restricting their access to additional goods and by taking aggressive action,” Deputy Commerce Secretary Alan Estevez said in a statement outlining the new sanctions.

The new rules build on restrictions already imposed on Russia’s industrial, commercial, chemical and biological sectors, adding a variety of electronic products, tools and carbon fiber, as well as chemicals including fentanyl and its precursors. The list of foreign-made goods requiring licensing for export to Russia, Belarus and Iran was also expanded to further limit Tehran’s ability to supply drones to Russia.

Doug Jacobson, an attorney who specializes in commercial law, noted that some prohibited items can be challenged. “Due to the broad scope of the new controls, licenses are now required to export goods such as hearing aids, false teeth and artificial joints,” he said.

Items that contribute to Russian weapons systems are a priority

The new measures came after the United States and the rest of the Group of Seven (G7) largest economies agreed to tighten sanctions against Russia at a summit in Japan.

Matthew Axelrod, the deputy secretary of commerce, said the United States prioritized strengthening controls over elements that are part of Russia’s weapons systems, such as missiles and drones. If the company is found to be engaging in tax evasion, Axelrod said in a statement, “we will use all our powers to shut it down,” the official warned.

A Greek man was arrested in Paris last week and charged by New York prosecutors with smuggling American military technology to Russia while working as a defense contractor for NATO.

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