The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission this week released an updated timeline of China’s position on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, outlining a list of “key actions and statements” summarizing China’s official stance on the war. The timeline also includes U.S. sanctions actions to penalize Chinese companies for supporting Russia's defense industrial base.
Canada last week announced another set of sanctions against Russia, targeting 38 people and 16 entities involved in “peddling Russian disinformation and propaganda.” Among the designations are state-owned media company MIA Rossiya Segodnya and Nikolay Victorovich Baskov, a popular singer and TV host.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control updated its Russian price cap guidance last week to include information on the recently imposed cap on Russian petroleum products. The measure -- which took effect 12:01 a.m. EST on Feb. 5 -- sets a $45 per barrel cap for petroleum products that trade at a discount to crude, such as naphtha and waste oils, and a $100 per barrel cap on products that trade at a premium to crude, such as motor fuel.
The global price cap on Russian crude oil is "successfully curtailing" Russia's ability to use oil sales revenue to finance its war in Ukraine, the U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation said Feb. 2. OFSI said the discount "between Russia’s flagship crude oil grade and global benchmarks" increased by more than 50% since November to around $40.
Senior Treasury Department sanctions officials traveled to the United Arab Emirates last week to speak with government officials about sanctions evasion and anti-terrorism financing, the agency said in a Feb. 2 news release. Brian Nelson, Treasury’s undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, and Bradley Smith, deputy director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control, spoke about “rooting out evasion of U.S. sanctions, particularly on Russia and Iran,” the agency said. They also discussed the U.S. “commitment to take additional actions against those evading or facilitating the evasion of sanctions.”
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week designated eight senior executives of Paravar Pars -- an Iranian company that manufactures Shahed-series unmanned aerial vehicles for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Aerospace Force -- and two Iranian naval vessels. The sanctions target Paravar Pars' board members, including CEO Hossein Shamsabadi, and the vessels Iris Makran and Iris Dena, an oil tanker serving as a UAV maintenance ship and an escorting frigate, respectively.
The EU updated frequently asked questions pages under its Russia sanctions regime relating to media and medicines and medical devices.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control designated 10 individuals and 12 entities the agency said are related to a global sanctions evasion network that supports Russia’s military-industrial complex. The designations are part of a "strategy to methodically and intensively target sanctions evasion efforts around the globe, close down key backfilling channels, expose facilitators and enablers, and limit Russia’s access to revenue," OFAC said in a Feb. 1 news release.
The U.K.'s Commercial Court in a Jan. 27 judgment let a proceeding involving PJSC National Bank Trust and PJSC Bank Otkritie Financial Corp. be taken to the Court of Appeal, finding it raises key questions of law concerning the impact of the U.K.'s Russia sanctions on ongoing litigation involving a designated party.
The EU added Iran Aircraft Manufacturing Industries to its Russia sanctions regime in a Jan. 30 decision from the European Council. The Iranian drone manufacturer was listed for its alleged involvement in developing unmanned aerial vehicles for Russia's war in Ukraine. The company was designated in 2010 under the Iran nuclear proliferation sanctions.