WASHINGTON: The US has targeted 10 people in a new round of sanctions aimed at containing Russian influence in the Western Balkans, the US Treasury said on Thursday.
According to the Undersecretariat of Treasury’s website, the Treasury also imposed sanctions on 20 organizations, 11 of which are based in Russia, in line with administrative orders regarding the Western Balkans and Russia.
Other sanctioned organizations are located in North Macedonia, Liberia and the United Arab Emirates. Three oil tankers registered to Liberia were also targeted.
The Treasury said that the sanctions related to the Western Balkans are the latest sanctions imposed by the United States on politicians, other individuals and organizations in order to control Russia’s efforts to prevent the region’s integration into international institutions.
The sanctions freeze all property and other assets of targeted individuals owned in the United States or controlled by U.S. citizens and generally prohibit Americans from doing business with them.
Those subject to sanctions are individuals from Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and North Macedonia.
They include Savo Cvijetinovic, a senior official of the political party led by Milorad Dodik, the pro-Russian leader of Republika Srpska (RS), who is currently under US sanctions over corruption allegations and encouraging the secession of Bosnia’s Serb-dominated half. and Herzegovina.
The statement stated that Cvijetinovic was the SC representative of a company owned by a former deputy chief of the Russian Air Force that “facilitated the illegal transfer” of Ukrainian-made helicopter engines to Russia.
Reuters Cvijetinovic or others allowed to comment could not immediately be reached.
It was also stated that Dodik’s industry, energy and mining minister Petar Cokic, who signed an agreement with his Croatian counterpart to build a pipeline from Croatia to a Russian refinery in RS, was also targeted.
The Undersecretariat of Treasury said that Dodik’s Moscow representative, Dusko Perovic, was sanctioned for lobbying for meetings between Dodik and Russian President Vladimir Putin, acting as an intermediary between the RS government and an unidentified Russian billionaire, and working for two of the billionaire’s companies.
Dodik said that the United States accused him of corruption even though there were no criminal cases against him in 2022.
news source (www.brecorder.com)
