Yellen sends warning to countries ‘indifferent’ to Russian sanctions

CNN

By Matt Egan

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen sent a warning Wednesday to countries that are not moving to cut financial ties with Russia or that seek to undermine sanctions imposed due to the war in Ukraine.

“While many countries have taken a unified stand against Russia’s actions and many companies have quickly and voluntarily severed business relationships with Russia, some countries and companies have not,” Yellen said in prepared remarks to be delivered at a 10 a.m. ET event hosted by the Atlantic Council, a nonpartisan think tank on international affairs.

“Let me now say a few words to those countries who are currently sitting on the fence, perhaps seeing an opportunity to gain by preserving their relationship with Russia and backfilling the void left by others. Such motivations are short-sighted,” Yellen said.

While Secretary Yellen did not call out any specific countries, some nations — including China and India — have not been in a rush to back away from Russia, given their need to import vast amounts of energy.

“Let’s be clear,” Yellen said, “the unified coalition of sanctioning countries will not be indifferent to actions that undermine the sanctions we’ve put in place.”

This story is developing and will be updated.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2022 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved.