Reported by Andrea Shalal and David Lawder

Senior officials from the United States, Europe and Britain met on Thursday with financial institutions to brief them on efforts by Russia to evade Western sanctions imposed over its invasion of Ukraine, a senior U.S. Treasury official told reporters.

The firms – from the United States, Britain and Europe – assured the officials that they were working hard to avert Russian efforts to evade sanctions and export controls, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The meeting took place on the sidelines of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund spring meetings, where top U.S. intelligence officials shared information on how Russia is using its GRU military intelligence agency and Federal Security Service (FSB) to try to evade sanctions and export controls.

Washington and its allies are ratcheting up their enforcement of the massive raft of sanctions they have imposed on Russia, and cracking down hard on any evasion efforts, the official said, noting Moscow was facing critical shortages of materials needed to produce ammunition.

Treasury said participants included Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo; EU Commissioner Mairead McGuinness; and Britain’s Treasury Director General for International Finance Lindsey Whyte, along with CIA Deputy Director David Cohen and Deputy Director of National Intelligence Morgan Muir.

Read full report: https://www.reuters.com/world/us-uk-eu-officials-met-with-financial-firms-russian-sanctions-evasion-2023-04-13/