If the Bureau of Industry and Security’s new undersecretary doesn’t quickly prove he can make progress on export controls for foundational technologies, Congress should consider moving the authority to a different agency, said Derek Scissors, a China economics expert with the American Enterprise Institute. Although lawmakers have previously threatened to revoke BIS’s authority under the Export Control Reform Act (see 2111170064 and 2110250035), Scissors said they should wait to first hear whether newly confirmed undersecretary Alan Estevez has a plan to speed up the agency, which has been criticized for moving too slowly on the controls.
The U.S. will soon issue a series of new Russian financial restrictions, including full-blocking sanctions on the country’s largest financial institution, Sberbank, and its largest private bank, Alfa Bank, the White House said April 6. The U.S. will also impose full-blocking sanctions against a group of “critical” Russian state-owned entities, Russian government officials, oligarchs and their family members, including President Vladimir Putin’s adult children. President Joe Biden will also issue an executive order blocking new investment in Russia by U.S. people or companies. The U.S. sanctions will be announced alongside similar measures by G7 member states and the EU.
A $90 million yacht owned by sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg was seized by Spanish law enforcement at the behest of the U.S., DOJ announced April 4. The 255-foot luxury yacht, the Tango, was subject to forfeiture following the issuance of a seizure warrant filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The warrant alleged that the yacht was subject to forfeiture based on violations of U.S. bank fraud, money laundering and sanctions laws, DOJ said.
Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas, and seven other Republicans, have introduced a bill that would require the administration "respond to a cyberattack either with sanctions or a classified/unclassified report for Congress to explain why they are not acting to create more accountability," Pfluger said in a press release announcing the introduction March 30.
Rep. Dan Meuser, R-Pa., and Rep Susan Wild, D-Pa., introduced a bill that would establish congressional oversight of some U.S. sanctions on Russia. No text has been released yet, and Meuser's office didn't respond to a request for the text by press time.
The U.K. amended one entry under its Russia sanctions regime, altering the listing information for Andrey Anatolyevich Turchak. In another notice, the U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation amended two entries under its ISIL (Da'esh) and al-Qaida sanctions regime. OFSI updated the listing information for Emraan Ali and the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant - Khorasan (ISIL-K).
After the Bureau of Industry and Security added 120 entities to its Entity List last week for supporting the Russian and Belarusian militaries (see 2204010080), senior BIS official Thea Kendler said the U.S. won’t “hesitate” to impose more export restrictions.
New allegations of Russian war crimes in Ukraine are expected to trigger another set of U.S. and EU sanctions, with some top European officials calling for energy embargoes and harsher financial restrictions. Although the European Commission was already expected to consider expanding some of its existing sanctions this week, the bloc may take more significant steps after images surfaced over the weekend of potential war crimes committed by Russia's military, including in Bucha, Ukraine.
A new bill introduced in the House would require the administration to study how digital currencies could help Russia evade U.S. sanctions. The legislation, introduced March 31 by Reps. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., and Michael McCaul, R-Texas, the chairman of and ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, also would create a new State Department officer to oversee sanctions evasion efforts involving digital currency.
A group of non-EU European countries aligned with the EU's March 10 sanctions decision to add 14 Russian businesspeople and 146 members of the Russian Federation Council to the sanctions regime over Russia's invasion of Ukraine (see 2203100021). Aligning were North Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Ukraine.