Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., said Nov. 21 that he plans to file a discharge petition to force a House vote on a bill to impose additional sanctions on Russia and new tariffs on countries that buy its oil and gas.
The U.K.'s National Crime Agency said billion-dollar money laundering networks working out of the U.K. bought a bank in Kyrgyzstan to evade sanctions against Russia.
The U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the U.K. and the Netherlands issued a joint alert this month about the risks stemming from bulletproof hosting (BPH) providers, which are internet infrastructure providers that market and lease their infrastructure to cybercriminals, including those subject to sanctions.
The High Court of Singapore will consider whether an arbitral award can be enforced in Singapore in light of U.S. sanctions on the party slated to receive the award. Earlier this month, Judge Thomas Bathurst declined to first and separately consider whether the enforcement of the award is contrary to Singapore's public policy due to the sanctions, opting instead to consider that question along with the other elements of the arbitral dispute.
The U.K. on Nov. 24 amended one entry under its cyber sanctions list. The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation updated the entry for Andrei Kozlov, an employee of sanctioned entity Media Land, to add his date of birth, place of birth and nationality. Kozlov is now listed as a Russian national.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week issued a maximum $4.67 million fine against a real estate investor for mortgaging, renovating, and selling a real estate property owned by a sanctioned Russian oligarch’s family member.
The Swedish Police Authority suspects that "extensive" violations of Russia sanctions are being committed by companies indirectly exporting products from Sweden to Russia through third countries, the agency said in a notice last week.
EU foreign ministers last week stressed that the bloc should prioritize new designations of Russian shadow fleet ships and their operators in future Russia-related sanctions packages, according to an EU summary of a Nov. 20 Foreign Affairs Council meeting. "Ministers shared the opinion that going after Russia's shadow fleet should remain a priority for the EU and that work on imposing further restrictive measures on the shadow fleet should continue."
Australia last week sanctioned Russian-based Media Land and ML.Cloud, along with key officials Aleksandr Volosovik and Kirill Zatolokin, for operating as cybercrime service providers. "These organisations have provided their ransomware infrastructure to malicious cyber actors and cybercriminals, allowing them to conduct cyber attacks in Australia and around the world," the country said. It added that the designations were coordinated with the U.S. and the U.K., which also sanctioned the two groups last week (see 2511190012).
The Office of Foreign Assets Control issued a new general license Nov. 21 that authorizes certain transactions with Paks II Civil Nuclear Power Plant, a Hungary-based power plant made with certain Russian-origin technology. General License 132 allows certain transactions involving the plant and 12 Russian banks and financial institutions, including Gazprombank, Sovcombank, Russia's National Clearing Center and the Central Bank of Russia. The license has no expiration date.