The Biden administration isn't ready to say whether it plans to formally designate Venezuela’s largest criminal gang, Tren de Aragua, a transnational criminal organization, a State Department official said at an April 11 congressional hearing.

The U.S. extended a national emergency authorizing certain sanctions against Russia, the White House said April 9. The White House said Russian efforts to undermine U.S. democratic elections, to “facilitate malicious cyber-enabled activities," to influence foreign governments, and more continue to threaten U.S. national security. The emergency was renewed for one year beyond April 15.

The U.S. has no plans to remove sanctions from Iranian technology company ArvanCloud (see 2306020020) after it was delisted by the EU earlier this month, a State Department spokesperson said.

Sanctions compliance professionals should familiarize themselves with several advisories authorities recently issued to help spot “dark fleet” vessels that seek to evade the price cap on Russian oil sales or oil sanctions on Iran and Venezuela, experts said April 4 during a webinar hosted by the Association of Certified Sanctions Specialists.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned Dubai-based Oceanlink Maritime DMCC, along with 13 of its ships, for helping to transport Iranian commodities for the country’s military. OFAC said Oceanlink has used its vessels to generate revenue for Iran, including through the Hecate, a vessel the company used to load more than $100 million worth of Iranian commodities through a ship-to-ship transfer from another sanctioned tanker, the Dover.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control on April 2 removed sanctions from VTB Bank Europe, the European subsidiary of Russian state-owned VTB Bank.

A U.S. government official didn’t say for sure whether the Treasury Department will allow a general license involving Venezuela’s state-owned energy company to expire next month, but suggested companies should expect it to lapse if the Venezuelan government doesn’t soon reverse its crackdown on political opposition members.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned six people and two entities based in Russia, China and the United Arab Emirates for helping to generate revenue or process financial transactions for North Korea.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week delisted a Netherlands-based entity that it had sanctioned in 2022 for being owned by Dutch national Alex Adrianus Martinus Peijnenburg. OFAC said Peijnenburg ran an illegal dark web drug trafficking network. The announcement removed the entity Bellizo from the Specially Designated Nationals List.

Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo and Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna met this week to discuss Russia-related sanctions evasion. Treasury said Adeyemo stressed the importance of “strengthening the international response” to Russia through combating “the evasion of sanctions and export control measures,” and “both confirmed the importance of enforcement of the” global price cap on Russian oil. The U.S. has sanctioned Estonia-based companies (see 2403250029), and in October added others to the Commerce Department’s Entity List (see 2310060044) for helping Russia evade sanctions and export controls.