Australia joined the U.S. and other G-7 countries (see 2302240028, 2302240025 and 2302240054) in imposing new sanctions against Russia last week, designating an additional 90 people and 40 entities. The new sanctions target Russian ministers overseeing the country’s energy, natural resources, industry, education, labor, migration and health sectors, Australia said, and also officials “perpetuating the Kremlin's mistruths to shore up support for President [Vladimir] Putin.” Australia also said it will provide additional security assistance to Ukraine, including “Uncrewed Aerial Systems,” which “provide a battlefield intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capability for the Ukrainian Armed Forces as they continue to fight.”

One of the “most challenging” aspects of complying with U.S. and Western sanctions against Russia during the past year has been the service restrictions, which has created hurdles for companies trying to understand “exactly what types of activities fall within the scope of the covered services,” Sidley Austin said. In a Feb. 22 alert describing key compliance lessons from one year of Russia sanctions, the law firm said the service restrictions are “broad,” affecting everything from accounting to quantum computing, and not always carried out equally across various sanctions regimes.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week issued new guidance for providing humanitarian aid to sanctioned jurisdictions. The six-page fact sheet describes recently issued or revised general licenses available to international organizations, nongovernmental organizations and others, including what types of activities are allowed and what types of transactions banks can authorize.

The G-7 and the EU last week committed to expanding sanctions against Russia and picking up enforcement efforts to counter Moscow’s sanctions evasion tactics. In a joint statement released Feb. 24, the group’s leaders said they “will maintain, fully implement and expand the economic measures we have already imposed” and establish an “Enforcement Coordination Mechanism to bolster compliance and enforcement of our measures and deny Russia the benefits of G7 economies.”

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week published previously issued general licenses under its Global Magnitsky Sanctions Regulations and Nicaragua Sanctions Regulations. The full text of each license appears in its respective notice.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned a network of people and companies involved in illegal methamphetamine and fentanyl trade, including six Mexican nationals who are members of the Sinaloa Cartel. OFAC also designated six Mexico-based entities with ties to the illegal drug trade.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control issued new guidance this week on aid-related transactions that can be provided to Syria to help the country’s earthquake relief efforts. OFAC said it has been receiving questions from non-governmental organizations and others on how to provide aid to Syria while still complying with U.S. sanctions against the country. The guidance includes information on the Syria general license the agency issued earlier this month (see 2302100006), and addresses some frequently asked questions surrounding what activities and transactions are permitted.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week published previously issued general licenses under its Venezuela sanctions regime. The full text of each license appears in the notice.

The State Department this week maintained foreign terrorist designations for Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan, Hizbul Mujahideen and the Army of Islam. The agency said circumstances “have not changed in such a manner as to warrant revocation of the designations.”

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week published previously issued general licenses under its Russian Harmful Foreign Activities Sanctions Regulations. The full text of each license appears in the notice.