If Russia doesn’t invade Ukraine, the U.S. and allies should still move forward with some sanctions to impose consequences on the Kremlin, experts and former government officials said. Those may include more sanctions against Russian oligarchs, they said, and possibly Nord Stream 2.
The United Kingdom's Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation amended entries under its Syria, Zimbabwe and Russia sanctions regimes. Amendments were made for Zimbabwe Defence Industries under the Zimbabwe list and for former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych under the Russia list. Under the Syria sanctions regime, among 25 entries altered and still subject to asset freezes were those for individuals including Ali Mamluk, former head of the Syrian National Security Bureau, and Hossein Taeb, head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Intelligence.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control is adding regulations to implement a pair of executive orders from November 2020 and June 2021 related to securities investments that finance Communist Chinese military companies. The regulations prohibit the purchase or sale of securities with any of the listed people or entities. In addition, the secretary of the treasury can designate further entities that have operated in the defense, surveillance, or related sectors of the Chinese economy.
The Commerce Department should add more Chinese companies to the Entity List, better restrict China’s government organizations and target the country with unilateral controls when appropriate, China Tech Threat said this week. The organization, which is run by Strand Consult and advocates for stronger export controls on China, said Commerce should add China semiconductor companies Yangtze Memory Technologies and Changxin Memory Technologies to the Entity List and tailor export controls to better target Chinese “pseudo-government organizations.” Commerce should also “prioritize” unilateral controls on American semiconductor manufacturing equipment by employing a “control-now-cooperate-later” approach, China Tech Threat said.
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More than 30 Senate Republicans introduced a bill Feb. 15 that would impose new sanctions against Russia and expedite certain U.S. arms sales as President Vladimir Putin threatens to invade Ukraine. The bill, titled the Never Yielding Europe’s Territory Act, would mandate post-invasion sanctions against the Russian-backed Nord Stream 2 pipeline and various Russian government officials, military leaders, oligarchs and banks. The bill would also impose sanctions on members of Putin’s inner circle regardless of whether an invasion occurs.
Although many companies could be affected by a potential expansion of the U.S. foreign direct product rule if Russia invades Ukraine, the U.S., the United Kingdom and Canada can also deploy other export restrictions that could have significant compliance implications, Baker McKenzie lawyers said. Those controls could range from more strict licensing policies to a complete trade embargo on certain Russian annexed territories.
Ruchi Gill, former deputy chief counsel for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, joined Latham & Watkins as counsel in its Washington, D.C.-based white collar defense and investigations 'practice, the firm announced. Gill also will serve as a member of the litigation and trial department. She will advise clients on national security regulatory matters, including proceedings at the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., export controls and economic sanctions, the firm said.
Turkey will slash the value-added tax on staple food from 8% to 1% in a bid to curb inflation, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at a virtual news conference, Bloomberg reported. Finance Minister Nureddin Nebati said that the Turkish government will create a task force to look at prices and a mobile app to help citizens find the cheapest goods in other efforts to fight high prices. Nebati also said the government will implement a new Credit Guarantee Fund package that will guarantee up to 60 billion liras, or $4.45 billion, allowing banks to dole out much more, Bloomberg said. So far, the Turkish central bank has cut interest rates by 500 basis points in four meetings since September, Bloomberg said. Turkey also recently authorized its agriculture ministry to restrict ag exports in an effort to control domestic food price inflation (see 2202020032).
Important questions still surround the implementation of a potential multilateral sanctions package against Russia, economic and security experts said, including U.S. efforts to enforce an expansion of the foreign-direct product rule. Although details may not yet be clear, a former State Department official warned that new U.S. sanctions against Russia could soon turn strict enough to mirror trade restrictions against Iran.