U.S. Treasury: Agricultural, Medical Products Not Part of Russia Sanctions

The U.S. Treasury Department on Thursday published a fact sheet that seeks to clarify its sanctions policy on Russia, saying that agricultural and medical products aren’t targets.

Rising fuel, food and fertilizer costs, often attributed to the war in Ukraine and the resulting sanctions regimes, have roiled public finances and stirred public anger world-wide, particularly in developing countries.

The fact sheet states that the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control has issued a general license to authorize certain types of transactions related to agricultural commodities and agricultural equipment, as well as medicine and medical devices. It said the U.S. strongly supports United Nations efforts to bring both Russian and Ukrainian grain to world markets.

“Agricultural and medical trade are not targets of the sanctions imposed by the United States on Russia for its atrocities in Ukraine,” the fact sheet says.

The document also notes that the U.S. hasn’t imposed sanctions on the export of fertilizer to or from Russia, and while the U.S. has banned Russian seafood from being imported into the U.S., “the prohibition does not restrict the importation of Russian Federation-origin fish, seafood, and preparations thereof from Russia into other countries besides the United States.”

It also states that exporting agricultural equipment and spare parts to Russia is allowed under U.S. sanctions, and transactions involving insurance and reinsurance of transportation and shipping of agricultural commodities, including fertilizer, are also allowed.

In addition, the note clarifies that U.S. financial institutions can process transactions related to the export of commodities, medicine or medical devices to or from Russia, and added that the state-owned Russian Agricultural Bank wasn’t on OFAC’s specially designated nationals list, but that transactions were subject to certain restrictions on debt and equity.

The fact sheet aligns with U.S. sanctions policy overall, which typically exempts humanitarian, medical and agricultural products from sanctions, with some restrictions. The U.S. published a note in February stating that its sanctions regime didn’t prohibit the import or export of agricultural commodities, medicine and medical devices to Afghanistan.

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