WASHINGTON, May 1 (Reuters) - The United States on

Wednesday issued hundreds of fresh sanctions targeting Russia

over the war in Ukraine in action that took aim at Moscow's

circumvention of Western measures, including through China.

The U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on nearly 200

targets, while the State Department designated more than 80.

The U.S. imposed sanctions on 20 companies based in China

and Hong Kong, following repeated warnings from Washington about

China's support for Russia's military, including during recent

trips by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and U.S. Secretary of

State Antony Blinken to the country.

China's support for Russia is one of the many issues

threatening to sour the recent improvement in relations between

the world's biggest economies.

"Treasury has consistently warned that companies will face

significant consequences for providing material support for

Russia's war, and the U.S. is imposing them today on almost 300

targets," Yellen said in a statement.

The United States and its allies have imposed sanctions on

thousands of targets since Russia invaded neighboring Ukraine.

The war has seen tens of thousands killed and cities destroyed.

Washington has since sought to crack down on evasion of the

Western measures, including by issuing sanctions on firms in

China, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.

Treasury's action on Wednesday sanctioned nearly 60 targets

located in Azerbaijan, Belgium, China, Russia, Turkey, the

United Arab Emirates and Slovakia it accused of enabling Russia

to "acquire desperately-needed technology and equipment from

abroad."

The move included measures against a China-based company

Treasury said exported items for the production of drones - such

as propellers, engines and sensors - to a company in Russia.

Other China and Hong Kong-based technology suppliers were also

targeted.

The State Department also imposed sanctions on four

China-based companies it accused of supporting Russia's defense

industrial base, including by shipping critical items to

entities under U.S. sanctions in Russia, as well as companies in

Turkey, Kyrgyzstan and Malaysia that it accused of shipping high

priority items to Russia.

The Treasury also targeted Russia's acquisition of explosive

precursors needed by Russia to keep producing gunpowder, rocket

propellants and other explosives in Wednesday's action,

including through sanctions on two China-based suppliers sending

the substances to Russia.

CHEMICAL WEAPONS, FUTURE ENERGY

The U.S. on Wednesday also accused Russia of violating a

global ban on chemical weapons by repeatedly deploying the

choking agent chloropicrin against Ukrainian troops and using

riot control agents "as a method of warfare" in Ukraine.

The State Department also expanded its targeting of Russia's

future ability to ship liquefied natural gas, or LNG, one of the

country's top exports.

It designated two vessel operators involved in transporting

technology including gravity based structure equipment, or

concrete legs that support offshore platforms, for Russia's

Arctic LNG 2 project.

Previous U.S. sanctions on Arctic LNG 2 last month forced

Novatek, Russia's largest LNG producer, to suspend

production at the project which suffered a shortage of tankers

to ship the fuel.

Also targeted were subsidiaries of Russia's state nuclear

power company Rosatom as well as 12 entities within the

Sibanthracite group of companies, one of Russia's largest

producers of metallurgical coal, the State Department said.

Washington also imposed sanctions on Russian air carrier

Pobeda, a subsidiary of Russian airline Aeroflot.

The U.S. Commerce Department has previously added more than

200 Boeing ( BA ) and Airbus airplanes operated by Russian airlines to

an export control list as part of the Biden administration's

sanctions over the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

NAVALNY

The State Department also targeted three people in

connection to the death of late Russian opposition leader Alexei

Navalny, the best known domestic critic of President Vladimir

Putin, who died in February in a Russian Arctic prison.

Russian authorities say he died of natural causes. His

followers believe he was killed by the authorities, which the

Kremlin denies.

Wednesday's action targeted the director of the correctional

colony in Russia where Navalny was held for the majority of his

imprisonment, as well as the head of the solitary confinement

detachment and the head of the medical unit at the colony where

he was imprisoned before his death.

The officials oversaw the cells where Navalny was kept in

solitary confinement, the walking yard where he allegedly

collapsed and died and Navalny's health, including in the

immediate aftermath of his collapse, the State Department said.