An Illinois businessman and a Ukrainian resident were charged with illegally exporting gun parts and other defense items to Ukraine, the Department of Justice said in an Oct. 9 press release. Glenn Stepul worked with Ukrainian resident Andriy Yakin to export pistol slides and stainless steel gun barrels without the required State Department license, which violated the Arms Export Control Act, DOJ said. The two people also worked with an unnamed third person in Ukraine to export rifle scopes and night vision cameras without required licenses from the Commerce Department. Stepul hid the export-controlled items inside shipments of drilling equipment and falsely declared them as household goods, cosmetics, toys, stationary and cassettes, the charges say. Stepul pleaded not guilty to the charges on Oct. 8. Yakin is believed to be living in Ukraine, DOJ said, and the U.S. has issued a warrant for his arrest.
The European Union and the U.S. should negotiate a limited trade deal on medical supplies and equipment, and environmental goods and services that is open to other World Trade Organization members that agree to the commitments, according to a think tank report issued Oct. 6. The German Marshall Fund of the United States also called for consultation between the EU and the U.S. on financial sanctions on third countries when those sanctions “will have an adverse impact on alliance partners,” and it said those sanctions should have limits.
The U.S. extended by one year a national emergency authorizing sanctions for the “situation in and in relation to” Syria, the White House said Oct. 8. The White House specifically pointed to Turkish military actions in northeast Syria that have undermined the “campaign” to defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. The authority would have expired Oct. 14.
The United Kingdom Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation issued its 2019-2020 annual report Oct. 9, including details on sanctions improvements made during the past year, sanctions statistics and licensing items. OFSI said it plans to focus on sanctions in the maritime sector in 2020-2021 and to publish “sector specific guidance with supporting blogs and targeted events” relating to maritime sanctions “later in the year.” OFSI also said it continues to prepare for the end of the Brexit transition period and aims to increase outreach with industry to improve sanctions compliance. The agency called industry engagement a “priority” and stressed that the format for its consolidated list will not change after the transition period.
The United Kingdom Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation on Oct. 9 added one entry to its ISIL (Da’esh) and al-Qaida Organisations sanctions list and corrected 17 entries on its Global Human Rights sanctions list. The U.K. added Jamal Hussein Hassan Zeiniye, leader of the Al-Nusrah Front for the People of the Levant, a terrorist organization, to its ISIL (Da’esh) and al-Qaida sanctions. It also revised identifying information for 17 Saudi, Russian, Myanmar and North Korea related entries. The Saudi individuals were cited for involvement in the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who had been living in exile in the United States, in the Saudi consulate in Turkey.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control designated a Nicaraguan financial institution and two government officials for undermining Nicaragua’s democracy, OFAC said Oct. 9. The sanctions target Cooperativa De Ahorro Y Credito Caja Rural Nacional RL, a bank that is “not subject to traditional regulatory oversight,” and Nicaraguan Attorney General Ana Julia Guido De Romero and Secretary of the Presidency Paul Herbert Oquist Kelley.
France, Germany and the United Kingdom called on the European Union to impose sanctions on those responsible for the poisoning of Alexei Navalny, a Russian political opposition leader. France and Germany said Navalny’s poisoning was an “attack on the elementary principles of democracy” and represented a “shocking new use of a chemical weapon,” according to an unofficial translation of an Oct. 7 joint statement. “France and Germany will send their European partners proposals for additional sanctions, the statement said. The U.K. on Oct. 7 said it “stands side by side” with Germany and France. “We will work together with our international partners to take forward sanctions targeting Russian officials and others who are considered responsible for this crime as well those involved in the development of the Novichok chemical weapon programme,” U.K. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said.
The Bureau of Industry and Security should be careful not to place overly broad, unilateral export restrictions on items for crowd control reasons if the controls disproportionately hurt U.S. competitiveness, industry told BIS in comments released this month. But some commenters, including a human rights advocacy group and a Congress member, called for new export restrictions and suggested existing controls -- especially on technologies that contribute to Chinese human rights abuses -- should be tightened.
Russia recently notified the World Trade Organization of draft revisions for the use of electronic veterinary certificates within the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and foreign trade via G/SPS/N/RUS/196, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said Oct. 6. The measure will allow traders to use veterinary certificates “issued in electronic form” for all “controlled goods” during import, export, transit and transfer within the EAEU. The public comment period in the draft will close Nov. 20, USDA said, but encouraged U.S. companies to share comments with the agency at us.spsenquirypoint@fas.usda.gov by Nov. 6.
The U.S. seized 92 domain names used by Iran’s sanctioned Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to spread online propaganda, the Department of Justice said in an Oct. 7 news release. IRGC violated U.S. sanctions by using website and domain services in the U.S. without the required license from the Treasury Department, DOJ said. Use of the domains also violated the International Emergency Economic Powers Act because the domains were operated by U.S. companies, which were not authorized to provide services to Iran.