The U.K. is urging allies to use sanctions to target people smugglers and organized immigration crime gangs, the country’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office said last week. It said Foreign Secretary David Lammy planned to speak with partners about the sanctions at the recent Munich Security Conference, including asking them to “replicate Britain’s world-first plans for a sanctions regime aimed squarely at organised immigration crime gangs and their networks.”

The Office of Foreign Assets Control launched a new “file finder” function that allows users to search and “efficiently navigate” all content published on the agency’s website. The search function, published Feb. 20, allows users to search for general licenses, Federal Register notices, executive orders and other legal documents, press charts, advisories, specific guidance and “many other records.” Users can search by document title, document type and the contents of each document. Questions should be directed to O_F_A_C@treasury.gov.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned James Kabarebe, Rwanda’s state minister for regional integration, who the agency said is “central” to the country’s support for the March 23 Movement (M23), a designated armed group responsible for human rights abuses in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. OFAC also sanctioned Lawrence Kanyuka Kingston, a senior member of M23 and the Congo River Alliance, a U.S.-sanctioned coalition of rebel groups looking to overthrow the DRC government.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control updated the sanctions entries for several Latin America-based criminal groups to reflect the State Department's labeling of them as foreign terrorist organizations and specially designated global terrorists (see 2502190011). OFAC revised the Specially Designated Nationals List entries for Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion, the Gulf Cartel, La Nueva Familia Michoacana, Cartel del Noreste (also known as Los Zetas), MS-13, the Sinaloa Cartel and Tren de Aragua.

The U.K. this week amended the entry for Eden Levi under its Global Human Rights sanctions regime to include his national ID number and date of birth. Levi is an Israeli national who was sanctioned for "threatening and perpetrating acts of aggression and violence against Palestinian individuals."

EU officials have agreed on a new package of sanctions against Russia, European Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis said Feb. 19. The measures will include more import and export restrictions, “tighter anti-circumvention measures,” and a “stronger crackdown” on Russia’s shadow fleet -- the ships Moscow uses to transport sanctioned goods. “The EU must remain united against the aggressor,” Dombrovskis said on social media platform X.

The State Department has designated eight Latin America-based criminal groups as Specially Designated Global Terrorists and Foreign Terrorist Organizations, the agency said in a pair of Federal Register notices released this week. The designations, which took effect Feb. 6, target Tren de Aragua, Mara Salvatrucha (also known as MS-13), Cartel de Sinaloa, Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion, Carteles Unidos, Cartel del Noreste, Cartel del Golfo, and La Nueva Familia Michoacana.

The U.K. general sanctions license permitting humanitarian activity in Syria expired Feb. 14, the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation announced. The license previously allowed humanitarian organizations to undertake activities needed to "facilitate humanitarian assistance in relation to earthquake relief efforts in Syria and Turkey." The agency earlier this month issued a separate license permitting certain humanitarian activity in Syria (see 2502120030).

The Council of the European Union on Feb. 18 renewed its "restrictive measures framework" on Zimbabwe for another year, until Feb. 20, 2026. The measures include an embargo on arms and equipment that can be used for internal repression. However, the council delisted the last remaining entity on the sanctions list, the Zimbabwe Defence Industries.

The U.K. added three people and two entities to its Russia sanctions list on Feb. 14. The individuals are Artem Yuryevich Chaika, who was listed for owning or controlling extractive company First Non-Metallic Company; Pavel Mikhailovich Fradkov, deputy minister of the Ministry of Defense; and Vladimir Viktorovich Selin, head of the Federal Service for Technical and Export Control. The entities are Joint Stock Company Kirov Energomash Plant and LLC Rosatom Additive Technologies.