LONDON -- Gyorgy Molnar, head of the multilateral Wassenaar Arrangement secretariat, said he is “cautiously optimistic” the regime will be able to agree to more export control proposals this year as opposed to the prior year. Molnar didn’t specifically name Russia but said a “number” of proposals last year “were blocked by one participating state.”
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Members of a new export enforcement partnership recently formed by the Five Eyes countries released new guidance Sept. 26 for industry and academia on countering evasion of export controls and sanctions on Russia.
Senate Republicans last week reintroduced a bill that could require the U.S. to sanction all Russian state-owned companies. The bill, titled the Halting Enrichment of Russian Oligarchs and Industry Allies of Moscow’s Schemes to Leverage its Abject Villainy Abroad Act, would require the president to impose the sanctions 60 days after the legislation is enacted. “We have a moral duty, and it’s in our national security interest, to do everything in our power to limit any U.S. funds that enrich the pockets of the Russian regime,” said Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who reintroduced the bill alongside Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Rick Scott, R-Fla.
The CEOs of two major European multinationals called for the simplification and increased coordination of sanctions at a forum held by the Atlantic Council last week. Michael Schoellhorn, CEO of Airbus Defense and Space, said the implementation of Russia sanctions, and the latest EU sanctions package in particular (see 2306230013), has “triggered such a bureaucracy,” with “a degree of minutia that is killing small companies.”
The Netherlands' Fiscal Information and Investigation Service (FIOD) arrested an employee of the Dutch defense department along with another individual for allegedly circumventing the nation's sanctions on Russia, FIOD announced Sept. 15, according to an unofficial translation. The agency said it conducted a search of the second man's home, business premises and storage space, finding large sums of cash, aircraft parts, weapons, cartridge holders and ammunition. The searches came as part of an investigation of an unnamed Dutch company that exports aircraft parts to Russia in violation of the Netherlands' sanctions regime.
The EU General Court on Sept. 20 rejected Russian businessman Alexey Mordashov's application to annul his sanctions listing, according to an unofficial translation. The court said the EU didn't err in finding that Mordashov is an influential businessman in sectors of the Russian government, rejecting his challenges to the process, reasoning and proportionality.
The co-chairs of the Congressional Caucus on Korea recently introduced a bill that would expand sanctions on any parties involved in trade or financing with North Korea that could lead to arms transfers to Russia.
Sanctions and enforcement professionals from the U.K., the EU and the U.S. said although they are pleased with the unprecedented unity and coordination among nations opposed to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it is an ongoing challenge to fight export control evasion and asset hiding among Russian elites.
The House Financial Services Committee advanced legislation this week that could apply full blocking sanctions on a host of Chinese companies in what Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky., described as the “most severe set of financial restrictions the House of Representatives has ever considered.” Barr’s bill, the Chinese Military and Surveillance Company Sanctions Act (see 2302060005 and 2306130062), could lead to new financial sanctions on companies subject to certain U.S. investment restrictions and export control licensing requirements, including China’s Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp., Huawei and other major Chinese technology companies.