The Bureau of Industry and Security on June 24 suspended the export privileges of three Russian airlines for violating U.S. export controls against Belarus. The agency issued 180-day temporary denial orders for Nordwind Airlines, Pobeda Airlines and Siberian Airlines, BIS said, banning all three airlines from participating in transactions subject to the Export Administration Regulations.
China's President Xi Jinping criticized global sanctions in a June 22 speech at the opening ceremony of the BRICS Business Forum, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said, according to an unofficial translation of a press release. Appearing virtually, Xi said sanctions are a "boomerang" and a "double-edged sword" that politicize and weaponize the global economy to impose "arbitrary" restrictions that ultimately harm others. BRICS member states are Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
The U.K. updated its guidance on the sanctions relating to the provision of insurance and reinsurance services over aviation and space goods and technology to a person or entity connected with Russia or for use in Russia. The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation said that the restrictions "would not apply where the insurance is for the benefit of the non-Russian owner of the items, rather than their user or operator. It also doesn't apply where the items either remain in Russia as the result of the termination of a lease and against the lessor’s will or are flown out of Russia in the process of returning them to their owner.
DOJ plans to expand its work with Ukraine to help it combat Russia sanctions evasion, the agency said this week. The agency will specifically send Ukraine an “expert” DOJ prosecutor to “advise on fighting kleptocracy, corruption, and money laundering” and will deploy two additional attorneys from the Office of International Affairs to support the department’s KleptoCapture Task Force. The lawyers will work “closely” with their EU counterparts and Middle Eastern countries to “facilitate mutual legal assistance and extraditions relating to Russian illicit finance and sanctions evasion, including with respect to designated Russian oligarchs who have supported the Russian regime and its efforts to undermine Ukrainian sovereignty,” DOJ said.
The Bureau of Industry and Security on June 24 suspended the export privileges of three Russian airlines for violating U.S. export controls against Belarus. The agency issued 180-day temporary denial orders for Nordwind Airlines, Pobeda Airlines and Siberian Airlines, BIS said, banning all three airlines from participating in transactions subject to the Export Administration Regulations.
Lithuania barred transport of EU-sanctioned goods via rail lines through its land to the Russian region of Kaliningrad, The Washington Post reported. The Russian government said June 21 that Lithuania would face "serious" consequences for the move. The Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said June 20 that the transit of passengers and goods not covered by EU sanctions will continue uninterrupted. The Foreign Ministry pointed to the fourth package of EU sanctions to discuss the trade that had been halted between Lithuania and Kaliningrad -- a Russian area that houses Moscow's Baltic Sea Fleet but has no land connection to the rest of the country -- and that includes steel and other ferrous metal products.
U.S.-EU cooperation on export controls, sanctions and other trade issues bodes well for the future of multilateral cooperation, said Rupert Schlegelmilch, a senior trade official with the European Commission, speaking during a June 22 event hosted by the Atlantic Council. Schlegelmilch specifically praised the work of the Trade and Technology Council’s export control working group (see 2206010007 and 2205160033), which allowed both sides to respond quickly to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February.
The EU renewed until June 23, 2023, its sanctions regime over Russia's annexation of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, the European Council announced June 20. Originally introduced in 2014, the restrictions' sectoral sanctions include import bans on goods originating from Crimea or Sevastopol into the EU and financial investments from the affected areas. The council also barred the export of certain goods and technologies to Crimean companies or for use in Crimea.
Companies with Chinese business ties should consider how they would be affected if the U.S. began imposing Russia-style export controls against China, said Crowell & Moring trade lawyer Jeff Snyder. Speaking during a June 21 webinar hosted by the firm, Snyder said his practice has begun conducting exercises to imagine how potential China-related controls would affect a business’ operations, which can help companies assess their risk exposure and make preemptive plans so they aren’t caught off-guard by trade disruptions.
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