US to ‘aggressively’ enforce Russia sanctions, official says

The U.S. will “aggressively enforce” severe sanctions against Russia that President Joe Biden will announce on Thursday in response to the nation’s invasion of Ukraine, an administration official said.

U.S. officials been working with counterparts in Europe in recent weeks to prepare the measures, Matthew S. Axelrod, assistant secretary for export enforcement at the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security, said on Thursday. The U.S. is prepared to implement export-control measures in coordination with a large number of allies and partners, a senior administration official said earlier this week.

“I don’t want to get ahead of the president’s announcement later today, but he’s made very clear that there will be severe sanctions,” Axelrod said in a virtual event hosted by Silverado Policy Accelerator. “I’ll make very clear here—not that there should have been any doubt—that we will enforce the severe sanctions aggressively.”

Within BIS, Axelrod leads a group of special agents and analysts dedicated to the enforcement of U.S. export-control laws. The team is responsible for stopping exports of sensitive goods and technologies that can be used for malign purposes, such a weapons of mass destruction proliferation, military and military-intelligence pursuits.