The State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls will hold a June 8 webinar on defense service agreements, the agency announced May 27. Officials from DDTC’s information technology modernization team and licensing division will answer common questions on submitting agreement requests to DDTC and explain the submission process in the Defense Export Control and Compliance System. There will also be a question-and-answer period.
Less than a week after a group of House Democrats introduced a resolution to block U.S. arms sales to Israel (see 2105240062), eight Republican senators said the sales should go through. The two sales, notified to Congress May 5, will help Israel defend itself “against Iran-backed Hamas terrorists,” said Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, who introduced a May 26 resolution approving the sales along with Marco Rubio of Florida, Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee and others. Republican senators also urged the Biden administration not to provide Iran sanctions relief under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action while the Israeli-Palestinian conflict continues (see 2105140027).
Foreign ministers from the G7 countries said they are considering imposing more sanctions against Belarus (see 2105250027) for diverting a civilian plane earlier this week to arrest a journalist. In a May 27 statement, the ministers said they will “enhance” efforts, “including through further sanctions as appropriate, to promote accountability for the actions of the Belarusian authorities.”
Export controls over 3D-printed guns were moved from the Commerce Department to the State Department following a court’s decision this week to officially waive a preliminary injunction that had blocked the transfer (see 2105030021).
The Bureau of Industry and Security added eight entities to the Entity List for their involvement in nuclear proliferation activities. The entities, located in Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates, will face a license requirement for all items subject to the Export Administration Regulations, and BIS will impose a license review policy of presumption of denial.
The Treasury Department’s upcoming budget proposal will ask for more money to address sanctions evasion practices, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told a House Appropriations subcommittee May 27. Yellen said the agency is focused on limiting evasion tactics and is hoping to collaborate more with allies to address those issues and increase the overall effectiveness of economic sanctions.
Technical assistance including maintenance and repair measures on Belorussian aircraft is included in the European Union's current embargo against Belarus, Germany's customs agency clarified in a May 26 notice, according to an unofficial translation. While an expansion of current sanctions is expected, the release said, individuals and entities should be notified to not repair Belorussian aircraft including that in the Belorussian airline Belavia. The clarification on the scope of the sanctions comes as officials across Europe ramp up calls for greater sanctions on the Eastern European nation following the forced landing of a Ryanair plane in Minsk.
President Joe Biden on May 26 officially announced nominations to fill two senior Treasury Department positions that oversee sanctions (see 2104300068). Biden nominates attorney Brian Nelson to be undersecretary of the Terrorism and Financial Intelligence office, which oversees the Office of Foreign Assets Control. He also nominates Treasury adviser Elizabeth Rosenberg for assistant secretary of terrorist financing.
Italian company GVA International Oil and Gas Services pleaded guilty to violating the Export Control Act after conspiring to obtain a power turbine for use on a Russian Arctic deepwater drilling platform. According to a May 26 press release from the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia, GVA admitted to working with Russia-based energy company KS Engineering to procure the $17.3 million turbine from a U.S. manufacturer for the project -- a move prohibited by the Commerce Department without first obtaining a license. While attempting to finalize the transaction, GVA employee Bruno Caparini, along with a KSE employee and an employee of the Georgia-based firm World Mining and Oil Supply, was arrested. GVA owner Gabrielle Villone is currently in prison serving a 28-month sentence after pleading guilty to conspiracy to violate the ECA.
The two top Republicans on the House and Senate foreign affairs committees are asking for an explanation from the State Department for why it waived sanctions against the company behind the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project (see 2105200055). Sen. Jim Risch of Idaho and Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas said they are “very concerned and disappointed’ by the decision to not sanction Nord Stream 2 AG and asked Secretary of State Antony Blinken to “justify this decision in specific detail” before the House and Senate. “We strongly disagree that it is in the national interests of the United States to issue this waiver, as it will further enable Russian leverage over European allies’ energy supply,” the lawmakers said in a May 25 letter.