The U.K. on Oct. 29 amended its Russian sanctions regime to prohibit the import and acquisition of liquefied natural gas and gold jewelry, the Department for International Trade said. The amendment also extends the existing restrictions on the import of gold to include gold processed in a third country and expands the list of revenue-generating goods to goods falling under commodity codes 2208 and 2303. The move further bans the provision of technical assistance, financial services and funds and brokering services relating to the goods. The measures took effect Oct. 29, except for the provision relating to liquefied natural gas, which takes effect Jan. 1.
European officials are concerned that a sudden increase in exports of washing machines, refrigerators and other items to Russian neighbors are being used to help the country acquire semiconductors and evade export controls, Bloomger reported Oct. 29. Armenia imported more washing machines from the EU during the first eight months of this year than the last two years combined, the report said, and Kazakhstan imported more than triple the amount of refrigerators through August compared with the same period last year. European officials are concerned some of the items' components may be used by Russia's military, the report said, and have publicly said they have seen parts from fridges in Russian military equipment used in Ukraine.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control has updated its Frequently Asked Questions to give additional guidance regarding the transport of Russian crude oil prior to the implementation of the oil price cap. FAQ 1094, issued Oct. 31, explains that Russian-origin crude oil loaded onto a vessel for maritime transport prior to Dec. 5 will not be subject to the price cap (also known as the “maritime services policy”) provided that the oil is unloaded at the port of destination prior to 12:01 a.m. EST, Jan. 19, 2023.
The EU General Court in an Oct. 26 judgment annulled the sanctions listing of Dmitry Ovsyannikov under the Russia sanctions regime. The European Council said that given his former positions in the Russian government since 2017, Ovsyannikov undermined Ukraine's sovereignty. The General Court said the council could not justify this finding because Ovsyannikov resigned as Sevastopol governor in 2019 and stopped working as a deputy minister in 2020. The EU had to show that his links with the government since these dates justified his designation -- something the bloc failed to do, the court held. However, Ovsyannikov is still sanctioned following a European Council decision in September that was taken up after the hearing in this case.
The U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation imposed two general licenses under its Russia sanctions regime. The Securing Energy for Europe license lets an individual or entity grant a category five loan or enter into an arrangement to grant this loan to Gazprom Germania or any of its subsidiaries. These loans can be issued for over-the-counter gas trading, payments of credit arrangements and invoices by Gazprom or any of its subsidiaries, customer credit arrangements, the provision of clearing services to Gazprom or any of its subsidiaries, payment between Gazprom or any of its subsidiaries, or the provision of financing for letters of credit. The license will run 11:59 p.m. Oct. 28 to 11:59 p.m. Oct. 29, 2023. The Loans and Securities amendment, which runs 11:59 p.m. Oct. 28 to 11:59 p.m. Nov. 5, permits an individual or entity to directly or indirectly enter into an arrangement to grant a category five loan, though it does not permit activity that would otherwise be permitted under the Securing Energy for Europe license.
A group of European countries not in the EU aligned themselves with recent EU sanctions moves under the restrictions regimes pertaining to Ukraine and those threatening the sovereignty of Ukraine, the European Council announced Oct. 26. On Oct. 20, the council added three Iranian individuals and one entity to the Ukraine sanctions regime for supplying the Russian army with Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. The countries of North Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, Ukraine, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway also implemented the decision, the council said.
DOJ's recent moves charging 11 individuals and various corporate entities for their roles in schemes to evade U.S. sanctions and export controls on Russia signal the government's continuing efforts to "aggressively enforce" restrictions on Russia, law firm Paul Weiss said in an analysis posted online Oct. 26. As a result, multilateral corporations with international supply chains need to ramp up compliance measures and be aware that international cooperation has expanded the reach of U.S. sanctions enforcement, the firm said.
The U.K.'s overseas territories have frozen Russian assets worth over an estimated $9 billion, including $8.4 billion by the Cayman Islands and over $400 million by the British Virgin Islands, the British government said Oct. 26. Releasing its response to the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee June 2022 report, "The cost of complacency: illicit finance and the war in Ukraine," the government also said crown dependencies have frozen assets worth over $1.15 billion, including nearly $2.2 million by the Isle of Man and nearly $5.8 million by Guernsey.
The Paris Court of Appeals ordered the French government to release an impounded yacht owned by EU-sanctioned Russian billionaire Alexey Kuzmichev due to procedural errors made during the vessel's seizure, according to an unofficial translation. Kuzmichev is one of the main shareholders of Russia's Alfa Bank. French customs seized the yacht, called La Petite Ourse, in March following Kuzmichev's addition to the sanctions list. The yacht was moored in Antibes. The French court said the customs agents did not follow correct procedure when searching the vessel, incorrectly relying on an authority that permitted a search in connection with suspected fraud.
The EU released updated guidance on the provision of business services under its Russia sanctions regime, adding an overview table of the EU restrictions on services. The European Commission added five questions to its FAQs about business services, covering how the sectoral scope for IT consultancy services is defined, whether the measures on IT consultancy services hamper the conditions of civil society organization in Russia, which software updates are exempted from the ban on IT consultancy services, what activities are covered on the architectural and engineering services ban and what activities are covered by the ban on legal advisory services.