The U.S. has designated Katibat al Tawhid wal Jihad as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist organization. In a March 7 press release, the State Department announced that all property and interests in property of KTJ that are subject to U.S. jurisdiction are blocked, and U.S. persons are prohibited from engaging in any transactions with the group. Foreign institutions that knowingly conduct or facilitate transactions on behalf of KTJ could also be subject to U.S. sanctions. The Office of Foreign Assets Control also added KTJ to the SDN list.
South Korea announced additional sanctions March 7 in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, according to an unofficial translation. The South Korean government said it is joining the international community's sanctions moves by placing restrictions on Russia's Central Bank and sovereign wealth fund along with Rossiya Bank.
Several European countries not in the EU continued to follow the bloc's lead, imposing the sanctions against Russia following its invasion of Ukraine, the European Council said March 4 in a series of three notices. North Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Ukraine all imposed the slate of sanctions, which include restrictions on Russia's Central Bank and hundreds of individuals and entities. The council's notices announce the alignment of these countries on freezing Russian banks from SWIFT, the global interbank messaging system; sanctioning Russia's sovereign wealth fund; banning two Russian state-owned media outlets from broadcasting in the EU; and expanding sanctions to many Russian officials and key entities (see 2203020008).
The Biden administration is considering lifting some oil sanctions against Venezuela to help decrease oil prices that have risen after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, The Wall Street Journal reported March 6. U.S. officials met with Venezuelan officials in Caracas this past weekend to discuss allowing Venezuelan oil back into the open market, the report said. Under the proposal, the U.S. would ease its sanctions against Venezuela for a “limited period,” which would redirect Venezuelan oil exports out of an "opaque China-bound export network and back to Gulf Coast refiners that process the heavy crude Venezuela produces,” according to the report. The proposal would also help to isolate Russia from Venezuela, its closest South American ally. The White House didn’t comment.
South Korean officials said they plan to continue imposing "swift and effective" export controls against Russia following the addition of their country to the U.S.'s list of nations that align closely with the U.S.'s trade restrictions against Russia. South Korea was added to the list March 4, which excludes it from certain license requirements under the U.S.’s two recently issued foreign direct product rules (see 2202240069 and 2203040075). “Korea is closely aligned with the U.S. and the global coalitionto [impose] export control measures and economic sanctions against Russia's military aggression,” Trade Minister Yeo Han-koo said in a March 7 news release emailed by the Commerce Department.
The coordinated export controls being levied against Russia by many of the world’s democracies could lay the framework for also cutting off sensitive technologies to China, said Martin Chorzempa, a China expert with the Peterson Institute for International Economics. The current controls against Russia, if “effectively implemented by enough other countries,” could “amount to a near blockade” of advanced technology exports to Russia, Chorzempa wrote March 7, and prove that coordinated controls are effective. He said these same plurilateral restrictions could be used against China in the future, or sooner if the country continues to supply Russia.
As global trade restrictions against Russia continue to increase, some companies are grappling with whether to fully exit the Russian market or rely on sanctions screening and temporary carve-outs to keep their operations afloat, lawyers and experts said in interviews this month. But the risks for a majority of businesses are quickly becoming too high, especially as sanctions are expected to grow more punishing.
David Wolber, former an attorney with Gibson Dunn, rejoined the firm as of counsel in its Hong Kong office, the firm announced. Before returning, he was global financial crime counsel for the Hong Kong bank HSBC and held a similar position for MUFG Bank. Wolber's practice will concern sanctions, export controls, Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. and foreign direct investment controls, and anti-bribery and anti-corruption proceedings.
To clear up congestion at Vietnam's northern border gates, Deputy Prime Minister Le Van Thanh instructed the Ministries of Health and Finance to build "green zones" -- or COVID-19-free zones -- in border gate areas, the state-run CustomsNews reported March 4. The zones will be built in coordination with local agencies to be consistent with Chinese customs regulations on COVID-19 prevention and control so goods can be exported and imported swiftly, the report said.
The Biden administration should close a sanctions “loophole” that allows Russian nationals to continue making “significant” deposits at U.S. banks and purchases of U.S. securities, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., said. He said the move would more closely align U.S. financial restrictions with those imposed by European allies and help cut off all access to the U.S. financial system for Russian elites who are “currently still able to keep sizable assets safe in the U.S. market.”