The U.N. Security Council on March 7 added one entry to its ISIL (Da’esh) and al-Qaida sanctions list. Sanctions now apply to the terrorist group Khatiba al-Tawhid wal-Jihad, which operates in Syria, Turkey, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Egypt, Afghanistan and Ukraine. The State Department sanctioned the group earlier this week (see 2203070059).
Australia imposed new sanctions against a range of Russia’s “propagandists,” military officials and entities for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the country’s foreign ministry announced March 8. The sanctions target the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and six senior military officials and an additional 11 financial institutions “of economic significance to Russia,” including the country’s central bank. Australia also sanctioned another 10 people that help promote “pro-Kremlin propaganda to legitimize Russia’s invasion.”
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network issued an alert to financial institutions to be vigilant against efforts to evade the sanctions and other restrictions implemented against Russia. FinCEN warned that all financial institutions identify and report suspicious activity associated with potential sanctions evasion, and conduct customer due diligence. The alert highlighted the following activities as possible evasion activities requiring higher scrutiny:
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The Commerce Department could impose strict export controls, including through the Entity List, on Chinese companies that violate U.S. export restrictions against Russia, agency officials said this week.
The U.S.’s new Russia export controls could lead to a short-term spike in license applications, but volumes will likely taper off later this year as businesses divest from Russia, said Nazak Nikakhtar, a former senior U.S. export control official.
South Korea announced additional sanctions March 7 in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, according to an unofficial translation. The South Korean government said it is joining the international community's sanctions moves by placing restrictions on Russia's Central Bank and sovereign wealth fund along with Rossiya Bank.
Several European countries not in the EU continued to follow the bloc's lead, imposing the sanctions against Russia following its invasion of Ukraine, the European Council said March 4 in a series of three notices. North Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Ukraine all imposed the slate of sanctions, which include restrictions on Russia's Central Bank and hundreds of individuals and entities. The council's notices announce the alignment of these countries on freezing Russian banks from SWIFT, the global interbank messaging system; sanctioning Russia's sovereign wealth fund; banning two Russian state-owned media outlets from broadcasting in the EU; and expanding sanctions to many Russian officials and key entities (see 2203020008).
The Biden administration is considering lifting some oil sanctions against Venezuela to help decrease oil prices that have risen after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, The Wall Street Journal reported March 6. U.S. officials met with Venezuelan officials in Caracas this past weekend to discuss allowing Venezuelan oil back into the open market, the report said. Under the proposal, the U.S. would ease its sanctions against Venezuela for a “limited period,” which would redirect Venezuelan oil exports out of an "opaque China-bound export network and back to Gulf Coast refiners that process the heavy crude Venezuela produces,” according to the report. The proposal would also help to isolate Russia from Venezuela, its closest South American ally. The White House didn’t comment.
South Korean officials said they plan to continue imposing "swift and effective" export controls against Russia following the addition of their country to the U.S.'s list of nations that align closely with the U.S.'s trade restrictions against Russia. South Korea was added to the list March 4, which excludes it from certain license requirements under the U.S.’s two recently issued foreign direct product rules (see 2202240069 and 2203040075). “Korea is closely aligned with the U.S. and the global coalitionto [impose] export control measures and economic sanctions against Russia's military aggression,” Trade Minister Yeo Han-koo said in a March 7 news release emailed by the Commerce Department.