US takes new step to stop flow of weapons technology to Russia

(Patria) - The United States is asking American companies to stop shipping goods to more than 600 foreign entities over fears that items could be diverted to Russia for use in its invasion of Ukraine, a US official said, Reuters reports.

The Commerce Department has sent letters to at least twenty companies in recent weeks with a warning, said a US Commerce Department official.

Since Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the US and more than thirty other countries have imposed a series of sanctions aimed at reducing Russia's ability to wage war by cutting off access to Western technology. Yet American components are still found in Russian weapons left on the battlefield in Ukraine.

"In the past few weeks, we have sent letters to more than twenty American companies, each containing a list of more than 600 foreign entities," said Assistant Secretary Matthew Axelrod at the annual export control conference in Washington.

"In those letters, we asked American companies to voluntarily stop shipping" due to the risk of sending to Russia. Axelrod said that senior US officials in the departments of commerce, state and treasury have also directly contacted senior executives at American companies to discuss further steps they can take to prevent their products from ending up in Russia.