From sunglasses to milking machines, US halts more exports to Russia

By Karen Freifeld

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The Biden administration halted the export of a wide range of consumer goods to Russia on Friday and added 71 companies to a trade blacklist, as the Group of Seven wealthy nations announced new sanctions on Moscow over its war in Ukraine.

The new curbs on Russia targeted items that can be used to help Russia’s military, including items used in daily life like clothes dryers, snow plows and milking machines which the U.S. thinks could be repurposed to support Moscow’s war machine.

“You can’t even ship contact lenses or sunglasses now,” said Washington lawyer Kevin Wolf, a former Commerce official, as he reviewed the new rules. Wolf said “it would be simpler to describe the items that are not controlled for export to Russia.”

The blacklisted companies include 69 Russian entities, one from Armenia and one from Kyrgyzstan.

The targeted companies include aircraft repair and parts production plants, gunpowder, tractor and automobile factories, shipyards and engineering centers in Russia.

The actions are part of the latest round of sanctions and export controls by the United States and other countries in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. They are designed to degrade Russia’s industrial base and its ability to sustain the war.

The U.S. and a coalition of 37 other countries have imposed unprecedented export controls on Russia since its assault on Ukraine in February 2022.

The new moves came as the United States and the rest of the “Group of Seven” major economies agreed to stiffen sanctions against Russia as they meet in Japan.

Last week, U.S. authorities arrested two Russian men living in Florida for allegedly sending U.S. airplane parts and components to Russian airlines in violation of export controls. The men claimed the goods were for customers in Turkey rather than Russia and attempted to transship the items through the Maldives, prosecutors said.

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