Foreign ministers from the G7 countries said they are considering imposing more sanctions against Belarus (see 2105250027) for diverting a civilian plane earlier this week to arrest a journalist. In a May 27 statement, the ministers said they will “enhance” efforts, “including through further sanctions as appropriate, to promote accountability for the actions of the Belarusian authorities.”
Export controls over 3D-printed guns were moved from the Commerce Department to the State Department following a court’s decision this week to officially waive a preliminary injunction that had blocked the transfer (see 2105030021).
The Treasury Department’s upcoming budget proposal will ask for more money to address sanctions evasion practices, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told a House Appropriations subcommittee May 27. Yellen said the agency is focused on limiting evasion tactics and is hoping to collaborate more with allies to address those issues and increase the overall effectiveness of economic sanctions.
The Bureau of Industry and Security added eight entities to the Entity List for their involvement in nuclear proliferation activities. The entities, located in Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates, will face a license requirement for all items subject to the Export Administration Regulations, and BIS will impose a license review policy of presumption of denial.
Technical assistance including maintenance and repair measures on Belorussian aircraft is included in the European Union's current embargo against Belarus, Germany's customs agency clarified in a May 26 notice, according to an unofficial translation. While an expansion of current sanctions is expected, the release said, individuals and entities should be notified to not repair Belorussian aircraft including that in the Belorussian airline Belavia. The clarification on the scope of the sanctions comes as officials across Europe ramp up calls for greater sanctions on the Eastern European nation following the forced landing of a Ryanair plane in Minsk.
President Joe Biden on May 26 officially announced nominations to fill two senior Treasury Department positions that oversee sanctions (see 2104300068). Biden nominates attorney Brian Nelson to be undersecretary of the Terrorism and Financial Intelligence office, which oversees the Office of Foreign Assets Control. He also nominates Treasury adviser Elizabeth Rosenberg for assistant secretary of terrorist financing.
Italian company GVA International Oil and Gas Services pleaded guilty to violating the Export Control Act after conspiring to obtain a power turbine for use on a Russian Arctic deepwater drilling platform. According to a May 26 press release from the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia, GVA admitted to working with Russia-based energy company KS Engineering to procure the $17.3 million turbine from a U.S. manufacturer for the project -- a move prohibited by the Commerce Department without first obtaining a license. While attempting to finalize the transaction, GVA employee Bruno Caparini, along with a KSE employee and an employee of the Georgia-based firm World Mining and Oil Supply, was arrested. GVA owner Gabrielle Villone is currently in prison serving a 28-month sentence after pleading guilty to conspiracy to violate the ECA.
The two top Republicans on the House and Senate foreign affairs committees are asking for an explanation from the State Department for why it waived sanctions against the company behind the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project (see 2105200055). Sen. Jim Risch of Idaho and Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas said they are “very concerned and disappointed’ by the decision to not sanction Nord Stream 2 AG and asked Secretary of State Antony Blinken to “justify this decision in specific detail” before the House and Senate. “We strongly disagree that it is in the national interests of the United States to issue this waiver, as it will further enable Russian leverage over European allies’ energy supply,” the lawmakers said in a May 25 letter.
Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., introduced an amendment May 25 to the Endless Frontier Act that would withhold the additional funding in the bill until the Commerce Department “completes the identification of emerging and foundational technologies as required under section 1758(a) of the Export Control Reform Act.” The Bureau of Industry and Security has identified dozens of emerging technologies but has not identified any foundational technologies (see 2104070026).
Congress and the administration can take a more active role to allow humanitarian aid to better flow to sanctioned regions in Africa, which is often hindered from receiving that aid, charitable groups and sanctions experts told a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on Africa May 25. Some of the issues lie with licenses issued by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control and a slow bureaucratic process that unintentionally slows aid shipments, they said.