The Trump administration is examining a recommendation by Senate Democrats to sanction Chinese individuals and entities that buy liquefied natural gas from the U.S.-sanctioned Arctic LNG 2 project in Russia, the State Department said in a letter publicly released Nov. 24.
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 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 on Nov. 24 updated its sanctions entry for Venezuela-based Cartel de los Soles to reflect the group's recent designation by the State Department as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (see 2511210003). OFAC sanctioned the group in July (see 2507270002).
President Donald Trump on Nov. 24 ordered the State Department, Treasury Department and other agencies to study whether certain chapters or subdivisions of the Muslim Brotherhood should be labeled a Foreign Terrorist Organization or Specially Designated Global Terrorist. The agencies must submit a report with their findings to the president within 30 days, and they must "take action within 45 days after the report to designate chapters as FTOs and SDGTs if appropriate," the White House said in a fact sheet.
The State Department released a Federal Register notice last week to officially label the Venezuela-based Cartel de los Soles a Foreign Terrorist Organization. The designation, effective Nov. 24, came after the agency said Cartel de los Soles plays a role in "terrorist violence throughout our hemisphere" and trafficking drugs into the U.S. (see 2511170003).
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.
The Council of the European Union on Nov. 20 sanctioned 10 people that it said are responsible for human rights abuses in Russia. The listings include officials in the "main directorate of the Federal Penitentiary Service of the Russian Federation for the Rostov Oblast," which are facilities in which Ukrainian prisoners of war are tortured, the council said. At least 15 detainees have died as a result of their treatment at the Russian penitentiary facilities, including journalist Victoria Roshchyna, the council said. Other additions to the sanctions list include members of the Russian judiciary who played a role in prosecuting activist Alexei Gorinov and other opposition figures.