September 14, 2022
The Honorable Antony Blinken
Secretary
U.S. Department of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington, D.C. 20520
Dear Secretary Blinken:
I write with great concern with regard to the ongoing defense procurement between the
People's Democratic Republic of Algeria and the Russian Federation.
As you know, Section 231 of the 2017
Countering America’s Adversaries Through
Sanctions Act,
directs the President to impose sanctions designations against parties engaged in
significant transactions with representatives of the defense or intelligence sectors of the
Government of the Russian Federation. The President has delegated that authority to the
Secretary of State, in consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury.
Russia is Algeria’s largest military supplier. Algeria is also among the top four
purchasers of Russian arms worldwide, culminating with a $7 billion arms deal in 2021. Influx
of money from any source to Russia will only further enable Russia’s war machine in Ukraine.
Yet, sanctions available to you have not yet been utilized.
Accordingly, I encourage you to take the threat Russia continues to pose to global
stability seriously and to appropriately designate parties whose significant purchase of Russian
materiel enable Russia’s destabilizing actions.
Thank you for your attention to this important matter.
Sincerely,
Marco Rubio
U.S. Senator
cc:
The Honorable Janet Yellen, Secretary of the Treasury