The U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation last week updated the entries for Tatiana Vladimirovna Evtushenkova, director of Redline Capital UK, and Dmitry Vladimirovich Konov, former general director at OOO Sibur, under its Russia sanctions regime. The agency also corrected the entries of three people under its Somalia sanctions regime: al-Shabaab leaders Abdikadir Mohamed Abdikadir, Mohamed Mohamud Mire and Mohamed Omar Mohamed.
The Council of the European Union on May 31 added three entities and six people to its North Korea sanctions regime for "sanctions evasion activities" that could "generate funds for" the nation's nuclear and ballistic missile programs. The entities are Hapjanggang Trading Corp., a subordinate to the North Korean Ministry of Rocket Industry; Korea Namgang Trading Corp., which expatriates North Korean workers to generate revenue for Pyongyang; and Eastern Stevedoring Co., which operates the terminals at the main container port of the Russian Vostochny Port. The EU also sanctioned Song Rim, Kim Chol Sok, Rim Yong Hyok, Kim Kyong Nam and An Se-Ho, who work for the North Korean government or North Korean companies, and Oleg Nikolaevich Kozhemyako, who played an "instrumental role" in the September 2023 visit of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to Russia.
The Council of the European Union sanctioned six people and three entities from Iran for transferring unmanned aerial vehicles to Russia for use in its war in Ukraine, the council announced May 31. The entities are Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, a "central entity in the command chain of Iran's armed forces"; Kavan Electronics Behrad, an Iran-based UAV procurement firm; and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy, which delivers Iranian UAVs. The council also listed Iranian Defense Minister Mohammad-Reza Gharaei Ashtiani, along with a commander of the IRGC Qods Force and the head of the sanctioned Iranian Aviations Industries Organization. Sanctioned parties are subject to an asset freeze and travel ban.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control last week sanctioned four Iranian entities and an Iranian aviation industry executive for their ties to the country’s unmanned aerial vehicle program, which has made drones for Russia’s war against Ukraine.
The Treasury Department this week released its 2024 risk assessment for the non-fungible token industry, outlining how NFTs and their platforms can be used to evade sanctions, fund terrorism, finance weapons proliferation and more.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned two companies in the Central African Republic linked to the Wagner Group, the designated private Russian military organization. The sanctions target Mining Industries SARLU and Logistique Economique Etrangere SARLU for “enabling Wagner Group security operations and Wagner Group-linked illicit mining endeavors” in the CAR, OFAC said.
Congress, federal agencies and state bar associations should work together on new regulations to ensure U.S. lawyers aren't enabling Russia-related sanctions evasion, Stanford Law School lecturer Erik Jensen and a host of law students recommended in a recent report.
David Lim, a former prosecutor with DOJ’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section, has joined White & Case as partner, the firm announced May 29. Lim, who left DOJ earlier this month, was the co-director of DOJ’s Task Force KleptoCapture, where he supervised investigations and prosecutions of Russia-related sanctions and export control violations. The firm said he will advise clients on export control and sanctions enforcement risks and help handle government and internal investigations.
The U.K. said it "reissued" a general license under its Russia sanctions regime allowing U.K. parties to use the retail banking services of a sanctioned credit or financial institution "provided that the payments made or received are intended for the personal use of" the individual. Payments may not exceed 50,000 pounds (about $63,500), and registered financial institutions can process those payments. Payments must be reported to the U.K. within 14 days with information on the amount processed, the payment route used and the date on which the funds were processed. The license expires May 27, 2026.
Japan sanctioned one Russian national, nine Russian entities and two Cypriot entities last week for their roles in aiding Russia's procurement of arms from North Korea, Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry announced, according to an unofficial translation.