Ukraine war: US imposes sanction on China, UAE-based firms helping Russian proxy fighters

 

The US has imposed a slew of sanctions on four aircrafts, eight individuals and 16 entities including a Chinese company for allegedly providing satellite imagery of Ukraine to support the Russian mercenary Wagner Group.

Wagner Group is also known as PMC Wagner, a private paramilitary organization reportedly the private army of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The members of this organization has palyed major role in the battlefield of Ukraine on behalf of Russia taking part into the proxy combat operations for Kremlin.

According to the news agencies, the Treasury Department and State Department announced the sanctions.

Treasury Sanctions Russian Proxy Wagner Group as a Transnational Criminal Organization | U.S. Department of the Treasury

Changsha Tianyi Space Science and Technology Research Institute is the Chinese firm also known as Spacety China, has offices in Beijing and Luxembourg.

Spacety China had provided Terra Tech, a Russia-based technology firm, with synthetic aperture radar satellite images of locations in Ukraine, the US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control said in a statement on Thursday.

"These images were gathered in order to enable Wagner combat operations in Ukraine," it added.

Another Asian company, Kratol Aviation (Kratol), is a UAE-based aviation firm that came under the US sanctions as the Treasury Department said Wagner Group uses Kratol-provided aircraft to move personnel and equipment between the Central African Republic, Libya, and Mali.

The other sanctioned entities and persons were mostly Russian.

Under the sanctions, there can be no transfer, payment, or export of any property or interests in the United States to the targeted entities.

Spacety China has yet to respond to the move, reports BBC.

Meanwhile, Al-Monitor, a media based in the Middle East reported that it reached out to Kratol via WhatsApp, using a phone number provided on the company’s website. The message was seen, but no reply was issued.

The new sanctions “will further impede the Kremlin’s ability to arm its war-machine that is engaged in a war of aggression against Ukraine, and which has caused unconscionable death and destruction,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.