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.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control deleted three people from its Specially Designated Nationals List this week: Mounir Ben Habib Jarraya, Tatiana Ryabikova and Vladimir Santic. Jarraya was sanctioned in 2003 for ties to terrorism, and Ryabikova was sanctioned in 2022 for being an employee of Viktor Artemov, who was designated for helping to export Iranian oil. The reason for Santic's original U.S. designation is unclear, although he was convicted more than two decades ago for crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, an ad hoc U.N. court that was established to prosecute war crimes committed during the Yugoslav Wars. OFAC didn't release information about why they were removed from the SDN List.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned dozens of people, entities and ships that are helping to move and sell oil for the Iranian government and fund its military. The designations target companies and people in the United Arab Emirates, Panama, Greece, India, Germany and other countries, and six ships flying the flags of Panama, Gambia and Palau for providing logistics services for the sales, acting as front companies for the sales, helping to charter vessels and more.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control and the U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation this week sanctioned Media Land, a Russia-based hosting service provider, for supporting ransomware operations and other cybercrimes. The two countries also sanctioned Media Land employees and associates Aleksandr Volosovik, Kirill Zatolokin and Yulia Pankova and a Media Land sister company, ML.Cloud.

The State Department issued Federal Register notices to officially label four Antifa groups in Europe Specially Designated Global Terrorists and Foreign Terrorist Organizations. The designations, effective Nov. 20, apply to Antifa Ost, Informal Anarchist Federation/International Revolutionary Front, Armed Proletarian Justice, and Revolutionary Class Self-Defense. The agency first announced the designations earlier this month, saying the groups have engaged in various politically motivated violent activities (see 2511130036).

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned Ryan James Wedding, a former Olympic snowboarder for Canada, for being an "extremely violent criminal" believed to be responsible for the killing of people abroad and for involvement in drug trafficking and "other serious criminal activities." OFAC said Wedding is on the FBI's 10 most wanted list and is "hiding" in Mexico.