The Senate Foreign Relations Committee passed a bill that would require President Joe Biden to determine whether certain companies are eligible for sanctions for helping to build the Nord Stream 2 pipeline (see 2104160022). The Ukraine Security Partnership Act, approved April 21, names Nord Stream 2 AG and 19 other companies, all of which could be designated under the Protecting Europe’s Energy Security Act. Sen. Cruz, R-Texas, introduced the provision as an amendment to the act. The measure will remove “any hope” from the companies that they can avoid accountability for working on the Russian gas project,” Cruz said in a statement. He also directed a tweet to companies involved in Nord Stream 2: "the United States knows who you are, and if you don't get out immediately you will be sanctioned.” The bill, which would also authorize Ukraine to receive “expedited excess defense article transfers” and calls for more U.S. support in the region, will now head to the Senate floor.
The U.S. and Congress should impose more sanctions on the Russian financial sector if the government doesn’t release political opposition leader Alexei Navalny from prison, Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., said. Speaking during an April 21 Senate Foreign Relations Committee meeting, Menendez, the committee chairman, said Russia should immediately provide Navalny with medical care after reports of his deteriorating health surfaced this week. If Russia doesn't act, he said, the U.S. should add to Russian sanctions and export controls announced by the Commerce and State departments last month (see 2103170022 and 2103020067). “We must be perfectly clear that if he is not afforded this care, we are prepared to impose sanctions not only on individuals, but on the Russian banking and financial sector,” Menendez said.
Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with the top stories for April 12-16 in case you missed them. You can find any article by searching on the title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
Two Republican lawmakers urged the Biden administration to increase sanctions against Nord Stream 2, the Russian gas pipeline, after reports that Russia is preparing to further invade Ukraine. Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas and Jim Risch of Idaho, the two top Republicans on the House and Senate’s respective foreign affairs committees, applauded the administration’s increased Russian sanctions last week (see 2104150019) but said more should be done. “While yesterday’s sanctions on Russia are a positive half-step, they did not include the one U.S. action that would have an immediate impact -- sanctioning and stopping the Nord Stream 2 pipeline,” the lawmakers said April 16. They said the pipeline is a “key source of Russian malign influence” and called on the administration to “fully” implement sanctions against the project “without delay.” Several other lawmakers from both parties have asked the administration to increase sanctions against the pipeline (see 2102170013, 2103240014 and 2008110016). The White House didn’t comment.
The State Department officially updated its guidance for the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act to list six previously sanctioned Russian entities with ties to Russia’s defense and intelligence sectors, a notice released April 16 said. The entities were identified as part of a March announcement that issued export controls and sanctions against Russia in response to the poisoning and imprisonment of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny (see 2103020067).
President Joe Biden signed a sweeping executive order authorizing new sanctions against Russia, allowing the U.S. to designate people and companies operating in Russia’s defense and technology sectors or involved in attempts to influence foreign elections. The order, announced April 15, also authorizes sanctions against a range of Russian government officials and their associates as well as people and companies involved in Russian corruption, actions to “undermine democratic processes,” and human rights violations and transactions designed to circumvent U.S. sanctions.
The State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls issued new guidance and frequently asked questions for the increased export controls against Russia announced in March (see 2103170022). The April 12 guidance provides a summary of the changes to the International Traffic in Arms Regulations and answers common questions about impacts to export licenses, license reviews and which activities are caught by the restrictions.
Following the Chinese government's decision to place retaliatory sanctions on Canadian and British officials and entities for their criticism of the alleged human rights abuses in the country's Xinjiang region, lawyers in both countries are expressing concern over the rising tensions between the two sides and noticing greater business concern over maintaining Chinese market access. Neil Williams and Thomas Cattee, white collar crime lawyers at Gherson Solicitors in the United Kingdom, said the Chinese sanctions are merely symbolic without any real underlying economic effect but that sanctioned individuals in the U.K. have deferred to Chinese demands.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative released the 2021 National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers, detailing foreign market access barriers faced by U.S. exporters. The 574-page report examines 65 U.S. trading partners and country groups, including any import policies, tariffs, customs, procedures and phytosanitary measures that are restricting U.S. goods.
Russian national Oleg Vladislavovich Nikitin, general director of St. Petersburg, Russia-based energy company KS Engineering, pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia to conspiracy to skirt export controls, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Georgia announced in a press release. Nikitin, admitted to attempting to sell a power turbine to a Russian company attempting to use it on an Arctic deepwater drilling platform -- a process banned by the Commerce Department without a license. An unnamed Russian government-controlled business contracted with Nikitin to buy the turbine from a U.S. manufacturer for $17.3 million. Nikitin, along with two others, was arrested in Savannah, Georgia, attempting to carry out the transaction for the turbine.