G-7 countries plan to keep their price cap on Russian oil at $60 per barrel, Reuters reported April 17. The countries and Australia came to the decision "over the past few weeks" as part of their review of the price cap, which was set in December.

The U.K. issued a General License under its Russia sanctions regime allowing Russian Railways to pay Lithuanian Railways for the rail transit of individuals between the Kaliningrad region and other parts of Russia. The license "excludes the transit of goods." The license expires April 13, 2025.

The EU called for the "full implementation" of U.N. sanctions on North Korea following its April 13 launch of a new long-range ballistic missile type. The European Council denounced the move, calling on Pyongyang to halt all "illegal and dangerous actions that violate UN Security Council resolutions" and asking all U.N. member states to enforce sanctions and "urge the DPRK to resume meaningful dialogue with all the main parties."

The European Commission on April 14 renewed the antidumping duties on stainless steel tube and pipe butt-welding fittings from China and Taiwan for another five years, following an expiry review investigation. The proceeding showed that allowing the duties to lapse would harm the EU pipe fittings industry, the commission said. The duties range from 5.1% to 12.1% for Taiwan, and from 30.7% to 64.9% for China.

European Commission Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis said last week that with the staggering costs of rebuilding Ukraine after the invasion and indiscriminate shelling and bombing by Russian forces, the EU is doing legal analysis on how it could use "confiscated Russian assets," whether seized or frozen, to help pay for Ukraine's reconstruction.

The U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation on April 13 amended or corrected entries for four businesspersons under its Russia sanctions regime. OFSI amended the entry for Tatiana Evtushenkova to add address information, and corrected information in the entries for Felix Evtushenkov, Natalia Evtushenkova and Nariman Gadzhiev.

The European Council added the Wagner Group and RIA FAN to its Russia sanctions regime, subjecting them to an asset freeze. While the Wagner Group, a Russia-based private military entity, already was subject to sanctions under the Global Human Rights sanctions regime, the EC designated the group for leading the attacks against Soledar and Bakhmut in Ukraine. RIA FAN is part of the Russian media company Patriot Media Group and disperses pro-Russian propaganda, the EC said.

The U.K. updated its industry guidance on its Russia maritime services ban and oil price cap, noting the cap will stay under review and will be updated subject to the agreement of the Oil Price Cap Coalition. It also explains that, for the maritime services ban, a person supplying or delivering goods by ship includes a person who owns, controls, charters or operates a ship on which those goods are being carried from or to which those goods are being transferred, the EU Sanctions blog said April 12.

The Netherlands is moving toward ending all liquefied natural gas imports from Russia, Dutch Energy Minister Rob Jetten told Bloomberg. Without announcing the decision, the government has stopped signing new LNG import contracts from Russia this year and is working on drawing down existing contracts, Jetten said. The move applies to both spot and long-term deals and could affect the rest of Europe given the Netherland's role as a transit nation for gas supplies, Bloomberg reported April 12. “We have to do what we can do to make sure there is no Russian fossil energy in our system, and we have been successful on coal, pipeline gas and oil,” Jetten said, adding that he is having numerous talks with the companies using the facilities to wind down preexisting LNG deals.

The U.K. Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation issued a notice April 12 adding 10 people and four entities to its Russia sanctions regime. The new designations target various Russian business and banking executives and other people with ties to Russia, including Felix Evtushenkov, Tatiana Evtushenkova, Natalia Evtushenkova, Nariman Gadzhiev, Demetris Ioannides, Gulnara Kerimova, Oksana Marchenko, Vladimir Skoch, Varvara Skoch, Christodoulos Vassiliades. The four entities are Curzon Square Ltd., Hanley Ltd., Meritservus HC Ltd. and USM Holdings Ltd. OFSI also amended the entry for Nikolay Bortsov, member of Russia's State Duma.