Bengaluru: With Russia set to get China’s weapons to further its war with Ukraine, the United States will continue to impose further sanctions on Moscow, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on the sidelines of G20 Meetings in Bengaluru, Karnataka, on Thursday.
The US is working with its allies to continue to degrade Russia’s ability to fight the “unjust war” with Ukraine, she said. “While by some measures the Russian economy has held up better than what it might initially have been expected, Kremlin is now running a significant budget deficit,” the US Treasury Secretary said.
“It is finding it extremely difficult because of our sanctions in our export controls to obtain the material that it needs to replenish its munitions of more than 9,000 tanks that have been destroyed because of the war,” Yellen said. “Russia’s revenues are down in January almost 50 per cent from where they were a year ago. So, the country is suffering in terms of its budget and its ability to acquire what it needs,” Yellen said, adding, “We will continue to impose further sanctions, working with our allies to continue to degrade Russia’s ability to fight this unjust war.”
US leader comments on China
On China, the US leader said, “We have made it clear that providing material support to Kremlin or assistance with any type of systemic sanctions evasion would be of a very serious concern to us. And, we will certainly continue to make it clear to the Chinese government and to companies and banks in their jurisdictions what the rules are about our sanctions and the serious consequences they would face in case of violations.”However, she admitted that communication between the US and China was important for “the sake of the entire world”. Yellen admitted that some engagements between Washington and Beijing have been suspended following the downing of a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon over the US.
(With inputs from agencies)
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