The U.S. and U.K. published a joint guidance this week to “provide additional clarity” on what types of humanitarian aid and transactions related to “food security” are authorized under their respective Russian sanctions programs. The U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control and the U.K. Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation said humanitarian groups, nongovernmental organizations, financial institutions and others involved in the agricultural or medical supply trade should use the seven-page document as a “guide when engaging in transactions that may be impacted by sanctions.”
The Bureau of Industry and Security announced the launch of a formal process to coordinate with certain allies on export enforcement efforts, an effort the agency’s Office of Export Enforcement has been working on for months. BIS said the “partnership” -- agreed to with the fellow Five Eyes partners Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the U.K. during a meeting in Canada this week -- will leverage each country’s resources to expand enforcement “capacity” and better “prevent and deter evasion of export controls,” BIS said.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned four companies and one person connected to the sanctioned Russian military group PMC Wagner (Wagner Group) and its founder Yevgeny Prigozhin. The designations target Central African Republic-based Midas Resources SARLU and Diamville SAU, United Arab Emirates-based Industrial Resources General Trading and Russia-based Limited Liability Company DM, which are involved in “illicit gold dealings” to help fund the Wagner Group. OFAC also sanctioned Andrey Nikolayevich Ivanov, a Wagner executive who has worked closely with Prigozhin’s entity, Africa Politology, and senior Malian government officials on weapons deals and other activities in Mali.
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Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley said she would block all exports of sensitive technology to China and put in place new investment restrictions on Chinese purchases of agricultural land if she is elected to the White House. Haley, the former U.N. ambassador during the Trump administration who announced her 2024 presidential candidacy earlier this year, said President Joe Biden is “not up to the task” of protecting U.S. national security from risks posed by China and previewed several new policies that could cut off a range of trade between the two countries.
The U.K. on June 26 extended until March 31 its General License under the Russian sanctions regime permitting the continuation of business operations with Evraz's North American subsidiaries.
The U.K. on June 23 amended three entries under its Russia sanctions regime. The changes affected the listings for Demetris Ioannides, Meritservus managing director; Dmitry Alexandrovich Pumpyansky, former board chairman for Tube Metallurgical Company; and Pumpyansky's wife, Galina Evgenyevna Pumpyanskaya.
The EU levied its 11th sanctions package against Russia June 23, imposing a host of new export restrictions, individual designations and "new tools to counter circumvention and information warfare," the European Council announced. The new designations target 71 people and 33 entities involved in military activities, political decision-making, the spread of disinformation, the forced adoption of Ukrainian children to Russia and Russian information technology companies offering technology to Russian intelligence agencies.
A bipartisan bill introduced in the Senate this week could allow the U.S. to better target sanctions evasion by rewarding information leading to the arrest or conviction of evaders. The Sanctions Evasion Whistleblower Rewards Act, introduced in part by Sen. Jim Risch of Idaho, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, would expand the State Department’s Rewards for Justice program to offer rewards for “information about the identity or location of individuals and entities that defy sanctions imposed” by the U.S. or the U.N., the lawmakers said.
The U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation on June 20 amended its general license covering humanitarian assistance in Ukraine. OFSI updated the definition of "non-government controlled Ukrainian territory" to include the oblasts of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. The agency also added nine entities to its "Designated Financial Institution" list: Bank St Petersburg PJSC, Bank Uralsib PJSC, MTS Bank PJSC, Bank Zenit PJSC, Bank DOM.RF, Rosbank PJSC, Tinkoff Bank, Russian Regional Development Bank and PJSC JSCB Metallinvestbank.