Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with the top stories from last week in case you missed them. You can find any article by searching for the title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
An indictment was unsealed on Jan. 7 charging three Russian nationals for their role in a scheme to operate the "cryptocurrency mixing services" Blender.io and Sinbad.io, both of which have been sanctioned by the Office of Foreign Assets Control, DOJ announced.
Japan is placing new trade restrictions on Russia, including export controls over certain audio equipment, engines and parts for “special vehicles,” such as cranes and small motorcycles, the country’s trade minister said during a Jan. 10 press conference, according to an unofficial translation. Japan will also take "measures to prevent indirect exports” to Russia being sent by companies in third countries. “We will continue to cooperate with the international community, including the G7, and take all possible measures to implement sanctions against Russia,” the minister said. “The details will be explained by the secretariat at a later date.”
The U.K. on. Jan. 9 amended the sanctions listing for transportation company Zapchasttrade LLP under its Russia sanctions regime, the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation announced. OFSI updated the company's business regulation number.
The U.K.’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation on Jan. 10 sanctioned major Russian oil producers and exporters Gazprom Neft and Surgutneftegas for operating in Russia’s energy sector. The designations were announced in conjunction with new sanctions issued by the Biden administration last week, U.S. officials said, which targeted a host of companies and vessels helping to move Russian energy products (see 2501100027).
The U.S. announced a host of new sanctions against Russia’s energy sector last week, targeting major Russian oil producers, oil service providers and insurance companies, as well as vessels and traders moving Russian oil as part of the country’s shadow fleet. The Office of Foreign Assets Control also issued two new determinations that authorize sanctions against any person or entity with ties to Russia’s energy sector and that block the provision of U.S. petroleum services to parties in Russia, and it announced it will soon be ending a general license that had authorized certain Russia-related energy payments.
DOJ successfully seized two luxury Miami condominiums with ties to Viktor Perevalov, a Russian national who was sanctioned in 2018 after his construction company helped build a highway in the Russia-occupied Crimea region, the agency announced Jan. 7. Perevalov allegedly used a Miami real estate agent to lease the properties, which DOJ said are worth a combined $1.8 million (see 2402230084).
Canadian national Nikolay Goltsev was sentenced to 40 months in prison for his role in a scheme to ship electronic parts to sanctioned Russian companies (see 2407100008), DOJ announced this week. Attorney General Merrick Garland said DOJ is “sparing no effort to ensure that those who violate America’s export controls to feed Russia’s war machine answer for their crimes in American courtrooms.”
In one of its first acts in the 119th Congress, the House of Representatives passed a bill Jan. 9 that would sanction International Criminal Court (ICC) officials for issuing arrest warrants for Israeli officials over the war in Gaza (see 2501060025).
The U.S. on Jan. 10 announced a new set of sanctions against Russia’s energy sector, targeting major Russian oil producers, oil service providers and insurance companies, as well as vessels and traders moving Russian oil as part of the country’s shadow fleet. Treasury said the designations target two of Russia’s “most significant” oil producers and exporters -- Gazprom Neft and Surgutneftegas -- along with more than 180 other people, ships and traders involved in Russian oil trade.