The United States is seeking to sanction more banks that still have ties with Russia as well as stepping up enforcement on any dodging existing rules, according to a senior U.S. official, as the Western tried to strengthen its effort to isolate Moscow.
Recently, the West also blocked many Russian banks from accessing the SWIFT international payment system. Russian banks such as Sberbank and VTB were forced to their operations across Europe.
James O’Brien, head of the U.S. State Department’s Office of Sanctions Coordination, said that the U.S. would increase the enforcement and added that the U.S. has pointed to the sanction, including the financial aspects of how it could be most effective.
O’Brien stated that even though the sanctions allowed the world to trade oil with Russia, the US would investigate the banks and their clients to see if any company benefited from financial ties to Russia.
The U.S. managed to make its sanction work as the greenback is the global trading currency.
