The US imposes sanctions on Russians who helped Moscow

On May 15, the U.S. Treasury Department announced sanctions against two individuals and three legal entities in Russia that facilitated arms shipments between Russia and North Korea.

This is stated in a statement by the US Department.

The arms supply scheme between Russia and the DPRK is linked to Slovakian citizen and arms dealer Ashot Mkrtichev, against whom the United States imposed sanctions in March 2023. Despite this, Mkrtichev and his accomplices continued their activities through intermediaries.

One of them is Russian Rafael Gazaryan, who negotiated on behalf of Mkrtichev to obtain various types of weapons and ammunition for Russia from the DPRK and headed one of his companies (which the United States also sanctioned).

Another Russian, Alexei Budnev, according to the US Treasury Department, facilitated the supply of military communications equipment to Russia, “which likely originated in the DPRK and was intended to support the Russian military.”

Author - Olena Madiak, 16/05/2024