Sanctions Against Russia: "invisible" Targets Named
1- 27.11.2025, 14:41
- 6,160
Strikes against them have the potential to undermine the Kremlin's war machine.
Europe is imposing sanctions on Russian oil, a "shadow navy," energy companies, banks and suppliers to the military industry. But there are "less important" sanctions that could significantly damage Russia's war machine.
This is reported by The Guardian.
American group Dekleptocracy has identified several areas of sanctions that are considered "unimportant." But they could potentially also be key and cause great harm to Russia's military.
For example, chemicals that are used to produce mechanical oils and tires for military vehicles. There are no sanctions against this segment, and meanwhile Russia does not produce these things in the necessary volume on its own.
Russia without chemistry
Only a few companies make chemical additives for mechanical oils - motor oil for tanks and cars. One of them is the Chinese company Xinxiang Richful, which now meets most of the demand in Russia. Supplies are up to 8 million tons a year - while European companies have stopped sales as early as 2022.
"Lubricant shortages will seriously damage Russia's war machine," said Christopher Garrison, the group's president and a former State Department expert on Russia.
The sanctions are "vague and specific," he said, but are really no less important than restrictions against electronics and oil. If supplies to Russia from China are blocked - and Xinxiang Richful has offices in the United States and is unlikely to risk business in the civilized world for the sake of Russia - Russians will quickly feel the crisis.
Another area is tire production. Russia has almost no domestic capacity to produce vulcanization gas pedals and other substances needed to make tires for military equipment.
Russia does not independently produce most chemicals in other areas. Including food additives, chemical materials for pharmaceuticals and shampoo, needs of other industry and the like. All of this is imported either from China or smuggled through "gray imports."
There are still enough targets for sanctions
This is relevant against the backdrop of the US complaining that it has supposedly "exhausted" all options for sanctions against Russia.
"Well, there's not much left for sanctions on our side, meaning we hit their big oil companies, which is what everybody asked for," U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said recently.
Other experts disagree with him, however. They believe that there are still a lot of objects for sanctions. And it is too early to draw conclusions about the effectiveness of sanctions against Russian oil companies - there is no enforcement of secondary sanctions against companies that continue to buy oil from Russia.
"A successful sanctions regime depends not only on defining new targets, but also on ensuring their implementation with respect to already defined targets.... As long as Russia successfully buys the components needed for its military and as long as Russia successfully sells its oil, the environment remains full of targets," said Tom Keatinge, director of the Center for Finance and Security at the Royal United Services Institute.
It should be noted that the price of Russian oil has fallen to a record low over the past year amid the sanctions. Now analysts and traders predict that Russia, even after a peace agreement with Ukraine, will not be able to quickly return to the world oil market.
Reminder, in October, the United States announced sanctions against two of Russia's largest oil companies - Rosneft and Lukoil - to force Putin to sit down at the negotiating table with Ukraine. Washington's new restrictions affect not only Russia's two main companies, but also 36 subsidiaries.
Russian dictator Vladimir Putin has begun to consider an unpopular decision because of the latest US sanctions against oil companies. It is about raising taxes in Russia - which indicates big problems in the Russian economy.
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