Canada has frozen more than $120 million worth of assets and blocked more than $290 million worth of transactions related to Russia since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in February, the country said this week. Canada said the assets were either owned or controlled by a person designated under its Russia sanctions. The country said it “continues to receive new information” about new assets or transactions that could be subject to sanctions.

The U.K.’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation this week published a webinar on sanctions reporting obligations. The webinar outlines new reporting obligations for crypto asset businesses, including what firms may be affected, various U.K sanctions definitions and penalties for violators.

The U.K.’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation this week issued a new general license to allow certain transactions related to energy use in Mongolia. The license will allow certain payments to certain sanctioned banks -- including the Credit Bank of Moscow, Gazprombank, Sberbank and Rosbank -- or their subsidiaries “for the purpose of making energy available” in Mongolia. The license took effect Aug. 15 and will expire Aug. 14, 2023.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control published in the Federal Register a group of previously issued general licenses, including one set of licenses covering sanctions against Russia and two sets of licenses related to Venezuela. The full text of each license appears in the respective notice.

The Netherlands recently arrested the suspected developer of Tornado Cash, a virtual currency mixer sanctioned by the U.S. this month (see 2208080031 and 2208100036). The Netherlands said the 29-year-old man is suspected of “concealing criminal financial flows and facilitating money laundering” through Tornado Cash services. The Netherlands said it has “not ruled out” other arrests related to the case.

China’s foeign ministry last week announced sanctions on a Lithuanian official for visiting Taiwan. The visit by Agne Vaiciukeviciute, Lithuania’s deputy minister of transport and communication, “tramples on the one-China principle, seriously interferes in China’s internal affairs, and undermines China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the ministry said. China said it will sanction Vaiciukeviciute and suspend all forms of exchange with Lithuania's Ministry of Transport and Communications. China last week also sanctioned House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., for her visit to Taiwan (see 2208050043).

Australia plans to designate Russian gold an “import sanctioned good” under its autonomous sanctions regime, the country said Aug. 15. The designation will restrict imports and transportation of Russian gold by Australians, including gold in unwrought, semi-manufactured or powder forms. Australia said its period of public consultation on the sanctions will close Aug. 29.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control on Aug. 15 sanctioned three Liberian government officials for public corruption. The designations target Nathaniel McGill, minister of state for presidential affairs and chief of staff to President George Weah; Sayma Syrenius Cephus, the solicitor general and Liberia's chief prosecutor; and Bill Twehway, managing director of the National Port Authority.

The U.S. won't remove sanctions from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in return for Iran's return to compliance under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, State Department spokesperson Ned Price told reporters Aug. 15. Price said the U.S. is still willing to pursue a "mutual return to compliance" to the JCPOA, but Iran must drop some of its "extraneous" demands that "go beyond" the scope of the nuclear talks, including a request for the U.S. to lift IRGC's designation as a foreign terrorist organization.

The State Department last week designated Paraguay's Vice President Hugo Velazquez and Juan Carlos “Charly” Duarte, legal counsel for the Yacyreta Bi-National Entity, for “significant” corruption. The agency said Duarte offered a bribe to a Paraguayan public official to “obstruct an investigation that threatened” the vice president and his finances. The State Department also designated Velazquez’s immediate family members: Lourdes Maria Andrea Samaniego Gonzalez, Dionicio Adalberto Velazquez Gimenez, Sonya Rebeca Velazquez Escauriza and Hugo Jose Velazquez Escauriza. Also designated were Duarte’s immediate family members: Ninfa Concepcion Vera Moreira and Tamara Duarte Martinez.