The U.K. amended the General License applying to transactions involving sanctioned Russian bank Sberbank. The license, "Correspondent Banking Relationships & Processing Sterling Payments," was altered to allow British credit or financial institutions to continue a banking relationship with Sberbank or a U.K. or non-U.K. credit or financial institution owned or controlled by Sberbank. The license expires March 31.
The EU last week issued a set of frequently asked questions to describe and clarify its new Russia export restrictions and sanctions. The 31-page document outlines items that are captured by the new restrictions, what exemptions are available, when the restrictions do and don’t apply, exporter compliance obligations and more.
The Russia and Belarus Financial Sanctions Act, clarifying that foreign subsidiaries of U.S. financial institutions must comply with American sanctions against Russia and Belarus, passed out of the House Financial Services Committee March 17 on a voice vote. The Nowhere to Hide Oligarchs' Assets Act, which gives the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network more access to records so that they can "detect Russian oligarchs who are participating in money laundering techniques to hide their money, avoid scrutiny, and evade our sanctions," passed out of the same committee on a 26-23 party-line vote.
The U.S. should tighten export controls against the Beijing Genomics Institute and its subsidiaries to prevent it from importing U.S. genomic and semiconductor technologies, the House’s Republican-led China Task Force said in a letter to National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan. Although the Commerce Department’s Entity List has two of BGI’s subsidiaries, the lawmakers said several more should be added to restrict the company’s “access to technology, data, and money.”
The Commerce Department should tighten export restrictions on China’s top chipmaker to prevent it from importing sensitive semiconductor equipment and exploiting a U.S. export control loophole, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas said. The lawmakers, who voiced similar concerns to Commerce last year (see 2103190005), said in a March 17 letter to Commerce that its export control licensing policies for Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation are “ineffective” and are denying less than 1% of export applications to sell technology to the company.
The U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation amended 21 entries under its Russia sanctions regime, still subjecting them to an asset freeze. OFSI also corrected three entries under the sanctions list and removed duplications for two individuals from the consolidated list. The corrected entries are Mikhail Fridman, Alfa Bank board director; Petr Aven, Alfa Group supervisory board chair; and German Khan, DEA Deutsche Erdoesl AG supervisory board member. The duplicate listings were dropped for Yury Vorobyov, Federation Council of the Russia member; and Maya Bolotova.
The U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation amended numerous entries under its Zimbabwe, Belarus, Cyber and Chemical Weapons sanctions regimes. Under the Zimbabwe sanctions list, OFSI amended the entries for Owen Ncube, Anselem Nhamo Sanyatwe and Zimbabwe Defence Industries.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control designated seven individuals and two entities as part of its efforts to combat drug trafficking in Central America. On March 18, OFAC designated the Los Huistas Drug Trafficking Organization and its leadership that threatens the people and security of the United States and Guatemala. OFAC said that Los Huistas DTO is the dominant criminal structure on the Guatemala/Mexico border.
The Congressional Research Service published a paper on the legal authority and organizational process behind the design and implementation of sanctions. The paper provides an overview of sanctions and export controls, and discusses the recent package targeting Russia and Belarus.
Australia issued another round of sanctions against Russia March 18, including designations targeting 11 more Russian banks and government entities. The entities include the Russian National Wealth Fund and the Russian Ministry of Finance. The country’s foreign ministry said its sanctions now cover a majority of Russia’s “banking assets,” including “all of the entities that handle Russia’s sovereign debt.”