India is seeking to boost its global wheat exports to fill the gap left by Russia and Ukraine due to the war in Ukraine (see 2204080037), Bloomberg reported April 19. India recently won approval from Egypt, the world's top wheat buyer, to sell to the country, the report said, adding that India is "eyeing" a record 15 million tons of wheat exports this year. Other buyers are concerned with the quality of Indian wheat, the report said. Egypt has imposed quality controls, requiring importers to submit an inspection request for Indian wheat before it's shipped out, Bloomberg said.
UserTesting, a California-based software company, said it may have violated U.S. sanctions by allowing users in Iran to access its platform, the company said in an April 4 SEC filing. The company said it conducted an internal review of its sanctions and export control compliance in “mid-2021” and discovered that Iranian “parties” signed up for a free trial of its platform but “did not make payment to us.” UserTesting also said it found a “limited number of participant accounts that represented themselves as residing in non-embargoed countries but may have accessed our platform from embargoed countries.”
The U.K. removed three entries and corrected another under its Iraq sanctions regime. According to the April 19 notice from the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation, Maki Mustafa Hamudat, Asil Sami Mohammad Madhi Tabrah and Rasheed Bank were removed from the sanctions list. The entry for Omar Sabawi Ibrahim Hasan Al-Tikriti was also corrected to add Yemen as an address for the individual.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control issued Russia-related General License 27, which allows certain transactions by nongovernmental organizations involving Russia. The license authorizes activities in support of humanitarian projects, democracy building initiatives, education, non-commercial development projects and environmental and natural resource protection in both Russia and Ukraine.
Companies operating in Hong Kong should carefully monitor their transactions to make sure they’re not exposing themselves to Russia-related trade restrictions, which could lead to secondary sanctions, said Hong Kong-based law firm King & Wood. The recent string of international sanctions is “unprecedented” and effects are being felt “by businesses worldwide, including those in jurisdictions such as Hong Kong which has not issued any unilateral sanctions,” the firm said in an April 8 alert.
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Russia temporarily increased its export quotas for mineral fertilizers by nearly 700,000 tons until May 31, the Russian Foreign Ministry said April 17, according to an unofficial translation. The quota for nitrogen fertilizers was upped by 231,000 tons to total about 5.7 million tons. The quota for complex fertilizers rose by 466,000 to about 5.6 million tons. The Foreign Ministry said the quotas don't apply to fertilizers to the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine or to Abkhazia and South Ossetia in the South Caucasus. The move was made to support Russian fertilizer suppliers facing global sanctions, the ministry said.
The State Department hasn’t ruled out designating Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism after being asked to do so by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The U.S. will “look at all potential options that are available to us under the law, options that would be effective in holding Russia to account,” spokesperson Ned Price told reporters April 18. Price said the U.S. has already imposed “unprecedented costs” on Russia, including sanctions and export controls, adding that if a “tool is available and effective, we won't hesitate to use it.”
Russia banned U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson and 12 senior British politicians from entering the country in response to U.K. sanctions on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in an April 16 statement, according to an unofficial translation. The individuals include former Prime Minister Theresa May and Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab.
The State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls was able to close significantly more end-use checks in 2021 compared with 2020 despite some continued travel restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. In its annual Blue Lantern report released this month -- which details the agency’s end-use monitoring efforts on controlled defense articles and services -- DDTC said it closed checks on 256 export licenses or applications during fiscal year 2021, an increase of more than 38% from FY 2020.