The U.K. issued a General License May 12 allowing the Amsterdam Trade Bank, a subsidiary of the Russian Alfa-Bank, to make payments for its basic needs. ATB was listed under the U.K.'s Russia sanctions regime. The license, titled "Amsterdam Trade Bank N.V -- winding down, basic needs and insolvency related payments," permits any individual to make, receive or process any payments in connection with any insolvency proceeding with ATB. The license also allows any individual to wind down any transactions with ATB or a subsidiary. It expires May 12, 2023.
Switzerland froze $2.2 billion in Russian assets in the past five weeks, Swiss official Erwin Bollinger said at a government briefing May 12, Bloomberg reported. The total amount frozen by Switzerland now stands at nearly $6.3 billion -- a number that is down since April 7 because around $3.4 billion was released after being frozen on a precautionary basis, Bloomberg said. The announcement comes after Kremlin critic Bill Browder said at a U.S. government-sponsored briefing on Russian money that the U.S. should reconsider its legal cooperation with Switzerland, Bloomberg reported. Despite Switzerland imposing sanctions on Russia that mirror the EU's, greater attention is being paid to the Swiss role as a haven for Russian money.
The State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls will launch an updated licensing application this summer in the Defense Export Control and Compliance System, the agency said in a notice last week. DDTC is updating the application to work in a new software platform, “providing greater flexibility, security and administration of the application to the support team,” the agency said. The update is a “significant step in DDTC’s effort to continuously modernize the DECCS application suite.” DDTC will hold a webinar June 9 to discuss the update, including a demonstration of the application, an overview of how it affects DDTC partners and a timeline for its release.
The Bureau of Industry and Security on May 13 opened registration for its annual export controls conference, with this year's theme of "Building a Network of Global Cooperation." The agency released information on the agenda, including what topics will be discussed. The conference will be held June 29 - July 1 in-person at the Marriott Marquis in Washington, D.C. Some portions of it also will be available virtually.
The U.K. added 12 individuals to its Russian sanctions regime in a May 13 notice. The listed parties are Alina Kabaeva, National Media Group board chair, and her grandmother, Anna Zatseplina; Viktor Khmarin, Russian lawyer linked to Russian President Vladimir Putin; Mikhail Klishin, SOGAZ insurance company board member; Vladimir Kolbin, Russian businessman; Lyudmila Ocheretnaya, Putin's ex-wife; Aleksandr Plekhov, Russian businessman; Igor Putin, director of International Sea Port of Pechenga; Mikhail Putin, Putin's cousin; Roman Putin, MRT Group of Companies board chair; Yuri Shamalov, Gazfond president; Mikhail Shelomov, Putin's cousin; and Anna Zatseplina, Kabaeva's grandmother.
The U.S. and the EU this week plan to announce a range of new initiatives through the Trade and Technology Council, including more collaboration on export controls and additional efforts to secure semiconductor supply chains, a senior administration official said. The official, speaking to reporters May 13 ahead of the TTC's second meeting May 15-16 in Paris, said the two sides will “deepen the partnership and announce a number of key outcomes.”
Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said she supports including an outbound investment screening provision in the final version of Congress’ China competition bill (see 2202030062), and said more guardrails are needed to stop China from finding technology transfer loopholes. While Raimondo didn’t explicitly endorse the bipartisan National Critical Capabilities Defense Act, which would create a committee to review outbound investments, she said the U.S. could use more regulatory power.
Switzerland listed two individuals under its Russian sanctions regime, adding Ukrainian businessman Serhiy Vitaliyovich Kurchenko and Russian businessman Yevgeniy Viktorovich Prigozhin to the restrictions list, according to an unofficial translation. The EU made the additions on April 21, and Kurchenko is listed under the U.S. and U.K. sanctions regimes, the EU Sanctions blog reported May 11. Prigozhin is listed under the U.K. Libya sanctions regime and the U.S. Russia, cyber and election interference sanctions regimes.
Companies need to stay on top of their compliance because significant escalation of Russia-related sanctions is possible, KPMG experts said. The "dramatic increase in the use of sanctions and other controls" over the past two months will likely continue to expand in complexity, said Jason Rhoades, KPMG senior manager-trade and customs services, during a May 11 webinar. Because Russian behavior toward Ukraine has not changed, "we expect [the use of sanctions] to continue to grow," Rhoades said. "There is significant room still out there for [sanctions] escalation."
Russia this week imposed sanctions against 31 former subsidiaries of state-owned energy company Gazprom, including entities in the U.S., the U.K. and Europe, Russian newspaper Kommersant reported May 11. Among the designations, according to an unofficial translation of the report, are Gazprom Germania GmbH, which recently was taken over by the German government after being abandoned by Gazprom in March (see 2204140012). The sanctions block Russian companies from doing business with the subsidiaries, and vessels associated with the subsidiaries are barred from Russian ports.