Switzerland added 30 individuals and seven entities to its Russia sanctions regime, bringing its list in concert with the EU's, the Swiss Federal Council announced. The newly listed parties were involved in the "referendums" organized by Russia in four areas of Ukraine. Switzerland said listed parties' assets must be frozen and reported to the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, and the restrictions already applicable to the Donetsk and Luhansk regions also will apply to Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.
A U.S. network equipment company may have illegally supplied products to a sanctioned Russian firm, the company said in a recent SEC filing. Extreme Networks said a former employee who now works for a Russian distributor sought to sell its products to MMZ Avangard, a state-owned military firm. Extreme Networks said it’s conducting an internal investigation and has “notified” U.S. regulators.
The Bureau of Industry and Security issued a temporary denial order for Russian airline Ural Airlines after it violated U.S. export controls by flying multiple aircraft to Russia, BIS said. Under the order, Ural Airlines’ export privileges will be revoked for at least 180 days.
Groups of European countries not in the EU aligned themselves with three of the bloc's recent sanctions moves, the European Council announced. On Oct. 6, the council barred individuals and entities from providing technical assistance, brokering services, financing or insurance to any third country ships carrying Russian oil above the price cap. The countries of North Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, Ukraine, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway aligned with the decision, the council said Oct. 13.
Russian semiconductor imports have dropped 70% since the country became subject to broad Western sanctions and export controls earlier this year, the Commerce, Treasury and State departments said in a joint alert last week. The alert, which provides an overview of the U.S. restrictions, said the measures are having "significant and long-lasting consequences on Russia’s defense industrial base," which relies extensively on foreign-sourced items, especially on imported microelectronics. Russia's semiconductor shortage has also dramatically dropped automobile and consumer electronics production, the alert said. Sanctions and export controls have resulted in "a sharp economic contraction for Russia" that will continue to drag on the Russian economy for years, the alert said.
John Carlin, former acting deputy attorney general at DOJ, has joined Paul Weiss as co-head of the Cybersecurity & Data Protection practice and partner in the Litigation Department, the firm announced. Carlin's practice will focus on cyber incident responses, crisis management, national security issues, white collar defense and the work of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., the firm said. At DOJ, he held the acting deputy AG position from January to April 2021, later serving as principal associate deputy AG under Deputy AG Lisa Monaco and AG Merrick Garland. Carlin's work centered on oversight of the FBI, leading an initiative to stop corporate crime, and cracking down on individuals and entities helping Russia evade sanctions, the firm said.
The top Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., said the administration has "a strong case for what they're doing" in restricting U.S. technology that aids the Chinese semiconductor industry (see 2210070049), but he questions how effective it will be unless the Netherlands and Japan go along.
A measure that would impose sanctions on people or companies involved in Russian gold trade could pass as part of a package with the Senate's fiscal year 2023 National Defense Authorization Act. The measure, included as an amendment, would sanction people that “knowingly participated in a significant transaction” involving the “sale, supply, or transfer” of gold to or from Russia and the Russian government or transactions that “otherwise involved gold in which the Government of the Russian Federation had any interest.” The entire package of 75 amendments will be decided with one vote.
The Biden administration wants to improve the effectiveness of multilateral export controls and is building toward the creation of an outbound investment screening regime, the White House said in its national security strategy published this week. Along with a range of domestic and foreign policy issues, the long-awaited strategy outlines the administration’s approach to trade and emerging technologies and its efforts to outcompete in its rivalry with China and continue to sanction Russia.
U.K. businessman Graham Bonham-Carter was indicted Oct. 11 for conspiring to violate U.S. sanctions on Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, wire fraud connected to funding Deripaska's American properties and working to expatriate Deripaska's U.S.-based artwork through misrepresentations, DOJ announced. The charges stem from the work of Task Force KleptoCapture, the law enforcement group tasked with enforcing the U.S.'s sanctions against Russia following its invasion of Ukraine.