Kellogg on sanctions pressure on Russia: First, we need to monitor compliance with existing restrictions
Compliance with Western sanctions against Russia remains weak, and their effect can be significantly enhanced by ensuring strict control over the implementation of the restrictions already imposed, in particular on assets and the "shadow fleet".
This was stated on Fox Business by US Special Envoy for Ukraine and Russia Keith Kellogg, Censor.NET reports.
According to him, there is a "problem" with sanctions against Russia, which is compliance with existing restrictions.
Kellogg reminded that, according to US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, US sanctions against Russia, if considered on a scale of 1 to 10, are now at the level of 6. But their compliance is somewhere around level 3.
"We need to really strengthen the entire effect of sanctions, and we can bring them to a certain result. If we talk about Russian sovereign assets. These are the 300 billion dollars that are kept in Belgium. We need to deal with them. The same goes for the shadow fleet. This is the fleet that carries most of the illegal oil that is transported around the world. 70% of it passes through the Baltic. We can actually close it down," the official explained.
The US special envoy reminded that Trump had already done "something similar" during his first term in office, when he actually "stopped the supply of coal from North Korea to China."
Kellogg said that Coast Guard boats could be used to stop the "shadow fleet" from operating.
"These are extreme measures, but we have already imposed sanctions against the shadow fleet in full, so we know where they are and where they are coming from. These are the steps that can be taken to make the sanctions really work. So, if we keep the sanctions at a high level, they will really work. But it has to be done. And too often it is simply not done," he added.
