The Office of Foreign Assets Control fined two Texas companies -- both subsidiaries of Netherlands-based oilfield services company ​Schlumberger Ltd. -- for violating U.S. sanctions against Russia and Sudan, OFAC said Sept. 27. The agency fined oil and gas service provider Cameron International Corp. more than $1.4 million for illegally providing services for a Russian Arctic offshore oil project and fined gas product provider Schlumberger Rod Lift, Inc. $160,000 for helping to illegally facilitate shipments to Sudan. OFAC said neither company voluntarily self-disclosed its violations.
The Bureau of Industry and Security fined a Texas semiconductor component manufacturer nearly $500,000 for illegally exporting controlled wafers to Russia via Bulgaria (see 2012210013), the agency said in a Sept. 28 order. The company, Silicon Space Technology Corporation, which began doing business as Vorago Technologies in 2015, worked with a Russian engineering firm to export “rad-hard 16MB Static Random-Access Memory (SRAM) wafers,” which were controlled under the Export Administration Regulations for spacecraft and related components.
The House-passed 2022 National Defense Authorization Act includes a provision that would mandate new sanctions against the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project. The amendment, proposed by Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, would authorize sanctions against the project, “excluding the national security waiver,” to attempt to stop its completion. The Biden administration has issued some sanctions against the Russia-to-Germany pipeline project (see 2108230057) but has also said more U.S. sanctions wouldn’t stop the pipeline from being completed and would only cause tension with Germany (see 2107220008).
Russia renewed its import ban on agricultural products, raw materials and food including beef, pork, fruit, vegetables, fish and dairy products from the U.S., the European Union, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Norway, Ukraine, Albania, Montenegro, Iceland and Lichtenstein until Dec. 31, 2022. The ban was initially put in place Aug. 6, 2014, in retaliation for Western sanctions on Russia, according to a Sept. 23 post on the EU Sanctions blog.
Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, recently offered several amendments to the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act, including provisions relating to export control statistics, the Entity List and sanctions.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control on Sept. 13 amended two Russia-related entries on its Specially Designated Nationals List. The entries are for Russia’s 27th Scientific Center and the 33rd Scientific Research and Testing Institute, both of which were sanctioned in March in response to the Russian government’s poisoning and imprisonment of opposition leader Alexei Navalny (see 2103020067).
Although it prefers multilateralism, the Biden administration will likely continue to use secondary sanctions when coordination with allies isn’t possible, the Center for a New American Security said Aug. 26. But the think tank said the strategy may present challenges, especially with the rise of new blocking statutes designed to counteract the effects of extraterritorial sanctions. While the European Union’s blocking statute “has not been effective” because of enforcement and implementation issues (see 2108020030), CNAS pointed to China’s recently introduced blocking regulations, which could present compliance challenges for multinational companies (see 2107080057 and 2108040031). Russia has also drafted its own rules to penalize firms that comply with U.S. sanctions, although they haven't been enacted, CNAS said.
Although the U.S. should continue to impose severe sanctions against the Taliban, some collaboration with Afghanistan and other adversaries in the Middle East may be required to deliver humanitarian aid to Afghan citizens, experts said.
Ukraine implemented sanctions against 13 individuals and 22 entities in a new wave of restrictive measures, made via four decrees from President Volodymyr Zelensky. Among those sanctioned are judges in occupied territory who illegally try Ukrainian citizens, members of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service, and mass media registered in occupied Crimea and in the occupied territories of Donetsk and Lugansk, Zelensky announced, according to an unofficial translation. Several of those sanctioned also have been designated by the U.S. They include Andriy Derkach, a Ukrainian member of parliament, and Denis Pushilin, head of the Donetsk People's Republic.
Instead of imposing more sanctions against the Taliban, the U.S. will likely try to repurpose existing regimes to better target the group, sanctions and security experts said. The task, which the experts expect to be “very” challenging, will aim to update a U.S. sanctions program that was originally intended to target terrorists but will need to now target the Taliban-controlled Afghan government. The efforts should be coordinated with allies, the experts added, but could be slowed by the delayed nominations of two senior Treasury Department sanctions officials, who have not yet cleared the Senate.