The U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation amended the listings of three individuals and one entity on its Russia sanctions regime. The entries for Ilya Klebanov, Valery Shantsev and AFK Sistema were corrected with the latest information on date of birth or other date and address information, while the "non-Latin script language" for Vladimir Lepin was updated.
The U.K. this week issued a general license under its Russia and Belarus sanctions regimes authorizing certain funds transfers to a U.K. individual or entity for the purposes of satisfying a contractual obligation. The license, which runs until Nov. 21, features certain conditions, including that the payment must be for the benefit of a U.K. party and the total value of the funds cannot exceed about $248,561. The license also includes a reporting requirement.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned four entities and one person involved in “obfuscated revenue generation” and cyber activities to support the North Korean government. The designations target the Pyongyang University of Automation, one of North Korea’s “premier cyber instruction institutions,” along with the Technical Reconnaissance Bureau and its "subordinate cyber unit," the 110th Research Center, which are controlled by North Korea’s Reconnaissance General Bureau, the country’s intelligence bureau. OFAC also sanctioned Chinyong Information Technology Cooperation Company, which employs delegations of North Korean information technology workers in Russia and Laos, as well as North Korean national Kim Sang Man, who helps pay salaries to family members of Chinyong’s overseas workers.
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The U.S. ended the Group of 7 summit in Japan with an agreement by member countries to explore new restrictions on outbound investments into China and a strategy to de-risk with regard to certain aspects of the country’s economy, a result President Joe Biden said “showcased the unity of purpose” of the G-7 leaders toward Beijing. The countries also emphasized the importance of multilateral export controls, agreeing to increase cooperation on restrictions over dual-use technologies.
The U.K. added 86 new entries to its Russia sanctions list, the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation announced. The listings cover 42 people and 44 entities linked to Russia's energy, metals, defense, transportation and financial sectors, including Oleg Romanenko, head official at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, 13 members of the Gazprom Neft board of directors and five members of the Transneft board of directors.
The Treasury Department ‘understands” the challenges faced by banks, law firms, companies and others in trying to comply with multiple Russian sanctions regimes across the U.S., the EU and elsewhere, and is working to better align those restrictions to alleviate some headaches, said Brian Nelson, Treasury’s undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence. Nelson, speaking during a law conference in Washington last week, said the agency is “working hard” to harmonize “our actions, our targets, the guidance that we're providing so that they are consistent across our jurisdictions.”
Companies should be constantly assessing their export control compliance procedures because of the unprecedented pace of regulatory changes, which makes it “easier to be caught,” said Tamer Soliman, a Mayer Brown trade lawyer, speaking during a law conference hosted by the law firm last week. He said the government is “scrutinizing more and more transactions,” particularly as it tries to target Russian sanctions evasion attempts.
DOJ and Commerce Department are increasingly looking to impose large penalties for significant export control and sanctions violations as part of a mission to incentivize more voluntary disclosures, said Matthew Olsen, DOJ’s assistant attorney general for national security. Olsen, whose agency and Commerce co-lead the new Disruptive Technology Strike Force, said he recently “made a couple of trips to companies directly” to speak with them about their compliance programs, and is hoping to “encourage” them to submit disclosures.
The U.S. announced a host of new Russia-related sanctions and export controls last week, including more than 300 sanctions designations by the Treasury and State departments and an expansion of Commerce Department export controls on items destined to Russia and entities supporting the country’s military. The measures, some of which were coordinated with allies as part of the Group of 7 summit in Japan, aim to “further undermine Russia’s capacity to wage its illegal aggression” in Ukraine, the G-7 countries said in a May 19 joint statement.