Deputy Treasury Sec’y: We’ve Avoided any Russia Sanctions that Would Impact Energy Delivery Because That Hurts Developing World

During an interview aired on Friday’s broadcast of CNN International’s “Quest Means Business,” Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo responded to a question on whether U.S. sanctions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine would involve sanctions on third parties and countries to prevent countries like China helping Russia make up for the impact of sanctions by stating that they’ve avoided sanctions that would impact the ability to deliver energy and food, “because we know about the impact of those things on emerging markets and developing economies.”

Host Richard Quest asked, “[I]f we look at Moscow and Russia now, it’s swamped with Chinese goods replacing those which have been removed because of sanctions. So, is the future to go after third parties and third countries?”

Adeyemo responded, “So, Richard, one thing I want to make clear is that our sanctions have been in a place where what we’ve tried to do is target Russia and Russia’s ability to fight its war in Ukraine. And what we’ve told individuals and companies and other countries is that if you provide material support to Russia in terms of their ability to fight this war, we’re going to go after you. Today, we announced a set of more than 250 sanctions. And in that were sanctions of 30 individuals and companies outside of Russia who are providing just that material support that’s helping Russia further its war. The one thing we haven’t done is place sanctions in any way that would impact the ability of food to be delivered to people or on energy products, because we know about the impact of those things on emerging markets and developing economies. But while we have resisted doing anything like that and tried to make sure that food is able to be accessed by people, Russia has taken steps to make it hard for food to leave the Black Sea and have led — and when Russia’s invasion started, energy prices went up, having an impact on developing economies. Fundamentally, actions like using the Strategic Petroleum Reserve [have] helped to bring down energy prices, not just here in the United States, but around the world. And we’re committed to doing whatever we can to reduce costs for the people who are suffering due to Russia’s invasion.”

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