"Tomorrow Will Be Worse" — U.S. Says Kremlin’s Enablers Will Suffer Consequences

Washington will continue to work on introducing sanctions against Russian government officials, top U.S. diplomat overseeing the Biden Administration's sanctions coordination, said on Friday.

"My message as always is for Russians, tomorrow will be worse. Those who have chosen to endorse the Kremlin’s line are increasingly likely to suffer some consequence" Ambassador Jim O'Brien, head of the State Department's Office of Sanctions Coordination, said when asked by TURAN's Washington Correspondent whether the U.S. would consider a list that Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny's team published recently naming 200 Russian officials for pushing the Kremlin’s narrative in its war against Ukraine.

"The specifics of how and when we do it are something still to come, but ...I think understanding the evolving power structure in Moscow is something always of interest to us, and we'll continue to work on sanctions," he added.

O'Brien was speaking to reporters during a briefing organized by the Department's Foreign Press Center. His office at the Department oversees work on sanctions and further strengthens cooperation with allies and partners in the use of this critical tool. It promotes accountability for corruption and human rights abuse and deters and disrupts activities that threaten U.S. national security.

Speaking about the UN-brokered Black Sea deal and impacts on global food security, O'Brien said that the U.S. was working with the UN to address Russian complaints that sanctions are hindering its food and fertilizer shipments, even though there has been no disruption to Moscow's exports of the commodities.

Contrary to Russian propaganda, he said, the U.S. has no sanctions on Russian food and fertilizer.

"There are complaints that sometimes it’s difficult for individuals, companies, or countries to be able to make payments through traditional mechanisms, but we are working intensively to see that those problems do not stop people from buying grain. If they choose to buy it from Russia, they will be able to do so," the Ambassador said.

The Biden administration asked all U.S. embassies to process any complaints from host countries about issues related to difficulties purchasing Russian grain.

In the meantime, the Ambassador added that Russian food and fertilizer exports are “completely in line, or maybe even going up, from its patterns from 2012” and Moscow’s complaints that its shipments are being hindered by sanctions are misinformation.

“We’re seeing no disruption in Russia’s ability to send food to market,” O’Brien said. “The fertilizer is still reaching markets at the same rate that it always has.”

Asked by TURAN about Turkey's confusing statements echoing Putin's position on sanctions, the diplomat said, Washington is "actually very grateful" to Ankara for the role it played in helping to open Odesa, "and I think President Erdoğan’s comments were an effort to keep a conversation going."

"Turkey plays a large commercial role in the trade out of both Ukraine and Russia. It is receiving 20 percent of the grain that comes out of Ukraine, and that’s important for Turkish businesses which resell those amounts around the world. I don’t think Turkey will want to see that stop," he added.

Ankara, he said, also has an interest in seeing the Russian Black Sea ports begin to open to large volumes of grain.

"So I think that the path forward is to continue to implement the agreement and build confidence so that more grain flows through the Black Sea, including to Turkey, and then I think everyone will see a way forward," he concluded.

Alex Raufoglu

Washington D.C.