Buckeye Reporter

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Bob Casey (D-PA), and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) urged the State and Commerce Departments to warn American businesses still operating in Russia that they could indirectly and inadvertently be funding Putin’s invasion of Ukraine – and putting themselves at legal risk. In a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, Sen. Brown and his colleagues called on the Biden administration to issue a business advisory to American companies and financial institutions about the dangers of continued operations in Russia. 

“As Russia continues its illegal invasion of Ukraine, we must make certain that we are taking all possible actions to ensure that U.S. businesses are not indirectly supporting the war,” the senators wrote. “To this end, we urge you to issue a business advisory to inform U.S. businesses, financial institutions, and other relevant entities of the heightened risks associated with continuing to operate in Russia.”

Over 300 American companies continue to operate in Russia in the wake of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. By paying taxes to the Russian government, American businesses could be inadvertently funding Putin’s invasion of Ukraine – while also taking on significant legal risk. Since September 2022, the Russian government has the power to require all companies to “facilitate conscriptions” of citizens in their employ and “provide material support” for Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine.

Full text of the letter may be found HERE and below.

Dear Secretaries Blinken and Raimondo:

As Russia continues its illegal invasion of Ukraine, we must make certain that we are taking all possible actions to ensure that U.S. businesses are not indirectly supporting the war. To this end, we urge you to issue a business advisory to inform U.S. businesses, financial institutions, and other relevant entities of the heightened risks associated with continuing to operate in Russia.

The United States and our allies have taken unparalleled steps to assist Ukraine in defending itself through military, economic, and humanitarian assistance. In partnership with our allies, we have imposed historic sanctions on the Russian economy and financial institutions to minimize funding and technology that could be used to support their invasion of Ukraine. Many U.S. companies doing business in the Russian market, withdrew, or paused operations in Russia. However, hundreds of American businesses continue to operate or maintain a relationship with the Russian government or its owned/affiliated entities and continue to pay taxes to the Russian government. Furthermore, U.S. companies are at additional legal risk in Russia, where under Putin's partial mobilization order in September 2022, companies are required to "facilitate conscriptions" of citizens in their employ and comply with government orders to provide "material support" for the war. A business advisory would ensure that U.S. companies are fully informed of the heightened risks of continuing to do business in Russia.

The United States Government has previously issued business advisories to help U.S. companies mitigate and identify risks of continuing to do business in countries that are committing war crimes and/or crimes against humanity, including in Burma, Sudan, Cambodia, as well as China, including the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and Hong Kong. We must do the same for Russia. U.S. companies should be aware of how their continued business could aid the Russian military and the overall risks associated with doing business in Russia. Compliance with U.S. and allied sanctions against Russia by U.S. companies should be the floor, not the ceiling, of how they engage, or better yet disengage, with their operations in Russia.

Sincerely,

Original source can be found here.