The EU should build a sanctions regime against disinformation, a European Parliament Special Committee on Foreign Interference said in the final conclusions of an 18-month investigation. The committee said that the European public and government are "'overwhelmingly' unaware of the severity of the threat posed by foreign autocratic regimes," namely, Russia and China. This leads to a particular vulnerability to cyberattacks and the recruitment of former senior officials to help polarize the public debate, the report said. To counter such threats, the committee recommended supporting "pluralistic media" and fact-checkers, making online platforms invest in language skills to act on illegal and harmful content, designating digital election infrastructure as critical, banning foreign funding of European political parties and improving cybersecurity, among other things. The committee also recommended a sanctions regime to combat disinformation.
Companies could face a variety of compliance challenges if the U.S. expands its foreign direct product rule to capture exports to Russia, Cooley's Annie Froehlich, an export control lawyer, said in a Feb. 3 Atlantic Council blog post. The U.S. has reportedly considered using the rule if Russia further invades Ukraine, which could limit Russia’s ability to import certain foreign-produced chips, integrated circuits and microprocessors, the post said. “If regulatory actions are imposed, assessing exposure and implementing appropriate compliance responses will be challenging.”
The Biden administration’s closed briefing to lawmakers on Feb. 3 only underlined the need for strong U.S. sanctions against Russia, several senators said. Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., said administration officials gave a “factual assessment” of the dire situation at the Ukrainian border, which could soon see a Russian military invasion. “It's really hard to listen to all that and not conclude that we need to do more,” Coons told reporters on Capitol Hill. “Everything should be on the table in terms of sanctions.”
The U.S. will penalize China if it tries to help Russia evade impending U.S. export controls that would be imposed if President Vladimir Putin invades Ukraine, the State Department said. Those measures would be coordinated with allies, spokesperson Ned Price told reporters Feb. 3.
Russia imposed travel bans on representatives of European Union member states in response to the bloc's sanctions on Russia, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced, according to an unofficial translation. The number of sanctioned individuals is unknown, as are the names of the sanctioned parties. The notice specified that the listed individuals include European private military company leaders, law enforcement representatives, and legislative and executive agencies of various member states. The EU's sanctions are "hypocritical," seeing as the EU purportedly imposes the norms of its legislation "everywhere," Russia's Foreign Ministry said. "The European Union deplores the decision by Russian authorities, announced on Friday, to ban an unknown number of representatives of EU Member States and institutions from entry into Russia," the EU responded in a statement Jan. 28. "This decision lacks any legal justification and transparency and will meet an appropriate response. With it, Russia continues to fuel a climate of tensions in Europe instead of contributing to de-escalation."
Legislation intended to expand the criteria for which the United Kingdom can sanction individuals and companies under the country's Russia sanctions program will be sent to Parliament, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said Jan. 31. The new regulations will allow sanctions to be imposed on any "any company that is linked to the Russian state, engages in business of economic significance to the Russian state, or operates in a sector of strategic significance to the Russian state" along with those who control these entities, Truss said before Parliament.
Senators said this week they are close to finalizing negotiations on a bill that would impose new sanctions on Russia both before and after it potentially invades Ukraine. Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey, the Democratic chair of the chamber’s Foreign Relations Committee, said Feb. 1 that he plans to meet soon with Sen. Jim Risch of Idaho, the committee’s top Republican, to finalize the bill.
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Eight countries aligned with the European Union's decision to add one individual to its Libya sanctions regime, the European Council said Jan 31. The council on Dec. 13 added Aleksandr Sergeevich Kuznetsov to the sanctions list due to his position in the Wagner Group, a Russia-based private military entity (see 2112130009). Kuznetsov, commander of the Wagner Group's 1st Attack and Reconnaissance Co., was injured in Libya while fighting alongside the Libyan National Liberation Army in 2019, the council said. North Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Ukraine and Georgia also imposed sanctions on Kuznetsov -- a move welcomed by the EU, the council said.
As the U.S. and the European Union both prepare their own set of Russian sanctions and export controls, a senior U.S. official said the measures may not be identical but will align very closely to avoid hurting the competitiveness of U.S. firms. Peter Harrell, a National Security Council official, also said the trade restrictions won’t amount to an embargo against “everyday” Russian consumers, and will likely include exemptions and a wind-down period.