Although U.S. human rights sanctions against China (see 2204010039) may be imposing some financial consequences, they aren’t convincing Beijing to stop committing abuses, Chris Chivvis, a former State Department sanctions official, said during a webinar last week hosted by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He said the U.S. may need to take a different tack with China if it wants to achieve its policy goals. Chivvis directs Carnegie's American Statecraft Program.
The European Commission updated its Russia sanctions FAQs, releasing a page on the "Import, Purchase & Transfer of Listed Goods." The updated guidance says certain listed goods, including fertilizers, animal feed and various hydrocarbons, can be shipped to third countries. The move is intended to lessen strains on food and energy security given the sanctions on Russia.
The House this week passed the Russia Cryptocurrency Transparency Act with several sanctions provisions, including one to require the State and Treasury departments to assess how digital currencies are affecting the “effectiveness and enforcement” of U.S. sanctions against Russia. The agencies would also be required to submit to Congress recommendations for “new legislative and regulatory measures” to strengthen the U.S.’s ability to stop digital currencies being used for sanctions evasion.
The U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation added three questions to its Russia sanctions guidance page. The first asks whether insurers are allowed to insure Russian ships carrying food and fertilizer from Russia and Ukraine to a third country. OFSI said insurers can apply for a license under the food security purpose with OFSI, which allows anything to be done in connection with the distribution of food for the benefit of a country's civilian population. Applying for this license doesn't prevent applicants from also applying under a different purpose in the regulations.
A few EU member states expressed their concern that new proposed guidance from the European Commission could weaken sanctions on Russia and allow countries to ship certain key Russian commodities including coal, globally. Several countries, including Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, criticized the guidance, Bloomberg reported Sept. 21. In a meeting with EU ministers, the concerned parties asked the commission to halt the document's publication until their issues were addressed.
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The Senate should move forward with bipartisan legislation that would give the administration stronger authorities to penalize and investigate sanctioned Russian oligarchs and tackle broader sanctions evasion issues (see 2207200020), senators said during a hearing this week. But Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., said Congress shouldn’t be too quick to expand some of the Biden administration’s proposals, which could expand DOJ authorities unrelated to Russia.
The House of Representatives on Sept. 20 passed two sanctions bills, including one that could lead to more designations of Russian officials and oligarchs. The bills were grouped as part of a broader legislative package that passed 361-69.
Two senators plan to introduce a bill that would impose mandatory sanctions against any foreign financial entity not complying with the G-7's and EU’s upcoming price cap on Russian oil. The bill, which is still being drafted, has bipartisan support on Capitol Hill but not from the Treasury Department, with one official suggesting the legislation is unnecessary.
The U.K., in a Sept. 16 notice, made a host of changes to its Russia sanctions regime listings. The Office for Financial Sanctions Implementation replaced Arkady Romanovich Rotenberg's entry with one that lists him as the previous chairman of the House of Prosvescheniye and previous owner of Stroygazmontazh. OFSI removed the entity Zao Interavtomatika (IA) from the consolidated list, and deleted two duplicates from the sanctions regime. The duplicate listings were for Leonid Eduardovich Slutsky and Vladimir Abdualievich Vasiliev. OFSI also amended 118 entries, still subjecting them to an asset freeze.