Zealous U.S: Places Russian naval company already on sanction list on updated sanction list

The shipyard and ship repair company from Severodvinsk, northern Russia, is on the list of updated and extended sanctions published by the U.S Ministry of Treasury on 1st September.

This won’t affect us at all, because the United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC), of which Zvezdochka is part, already is on the sanction list, USC leader Aleksey Rakhmanov underlines to TASS.

The USC was included in the sanctions list announced by U.S authorities in late July 2014. The state corporation includes a total of 29 shipbuilding and ship design enterprises all over Russia.

«Since the Zvezdochka is a 100% subsidiary of the USC, the yard has been subjected to sanctions ever since the the sanctions were imposed against the USC», Rakhmanov says. 

The new and expanded  U.S. sanction list targets 17 individuals in eastern Ukraine, most of them representatives of separatist rebels east in the country, and a number of companies, most of them somehow involved in the construction of the Kerch bridge to the Crimea.

“Russia continues to provoke instability in eastern Ukraine despite its Minsk commitments,” says John E. Smith, Acting Director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control.  “Treasury stands with our partners in condemning Russia’s violation of international law, and we will continue to sanction those who threaten Ukraine’s peace, security, and sovereignty,” he adds in a press release.

Zvezdochka, first of all known for its repair operations of Russia’s nuclear submarines, is on the list because of its branch office in Sevastopol, Crimea, the U.S Ministry informs. Subsidiary company Sevmorzavod is located in downtown Sevastopol and is heavily engaged in operations connected with Russia’s Black Sea Fleet. It is also involved in the construction of the controversial Kerch bridge to the peninsula, information from the yard shows.

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According to the USC leader, the updated sanction list «won’t affect us at all». Zvezdochka will in 2017 have an anticipated ten percent increase in its order books. The values amount to 35 billion rubles Rakhmanov says to TASS.

The lion’s share of the orders are military repair and upgrades of Northern Fleet vessels. However, also other orders are in the pipeline. Gazprom reportedly intends to build the platform for its upcoming Kamennomysskoye-more project in the Ob Bay at Zvezdochka.