The U.K. issued a new general license under its Russia sanctions regime authorizing certain payments by people who "owe monies to a designated person as a result of a Court Order." The license took effect Feb. 29.
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York last week charged Russian oligarch Andrey Kostin, along with Russian national Vadim Wolfson of Austin, Texas, and U.S. citizen Gannon Bond of Edgewater, New Jersey, with conspiracy to violate U.S. sanctions on Russia by providing "funds, goods, and services" to Kostin, a sanctioned party, it said in a news release. (U.S. v. Andrey Kostin, S.D.N.Y. # 24-00091).
Companies should continue to see more Chinese additions to the U.S. Entity List this year, although Russia sanctions likely will continue to dominate the government’s time and resources, trade lawyers said this week.
Australia this week sanctioned seven Russian prison officials responsible for the “mistreatment” of opposition figure Alexei Navalny, who died in the prison earlier this month. Australia's foreign affairs ministry said it used its Magnitsky-style human rights sanctions authority to impose the designations (see 2112220008 and 2203290005).
The U.S. needs a more measured and analytics-driven approach to sanctions, export controls and other economic statecraft tools, said Daleep Singh, President Joe Biden’s incoming deputy national security adviser for international economics. He warned about the risks of relying too heavily on new, large-scale sanctions against China and called on the U.S. to create a formal doctrine to guide its use of trade restrictions.
Elizabeth Rosenberg left her role as a senior sanctions official at the Treasury Department to join Bank of America as managing director, global financial crimes public policy, she announced on LinkedIn this week. Rosenberg was most recently Treasury’s assistant secretary for terrorist financing and financial crimes, where she helped oversee the Biden administration’s sanctions activities against Russia, including by coordinating them with U.S. allies (see 2310040059, 2304270069, 2303030018 and 2212080040).
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned Hong Kong-registered Kohana Company Limited and Marshall Islands-registered Iridescent Co Ltd. for operating a vessel shipping more than $100 million worth of Iranian commodities to China. The Panama-flagged Kohana is on its way to China, where it plans to offload the cargo to Chinese businesses, OFAC said.
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The European Commission recently issued updated guidance for a requirement that will soon force EU exporters to insert clauses in their contracts that bar reexports of certain sensitive goods to Russia. The document offers guidance on how EU companies should comply with the “no reexport to Russia” clause, how it impacts contracts already in place, how the EU plans to enforce the requirement, what the clause’s wording should include, and more.
Computing chips and other high-tech equipment made by American companies continue to flow to Russia’s war machine despite U.S. efforts to stop them with export controls and sanctions, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said Feb. 27.