The two Treasury Department nominees slated to oversee some of the agency’s sanctions work (see 2105260018) said they will prioritize Treasury’s ongoing sanctions review, but declined to commit to any specific actions related to Iran, China or the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. Brian Nelson, the nominee to lead the Terrorism and Financial Intelligence office, and Elizabeth Rosenberg, the nominee to be assistant secretary for terrorist financing, told a Senate panel June 22 they will pursue strong penalties against sanctions evaders but want more information before committing to take specific actions.
The European Council extended its sanctions regime on Russia related to its annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol until June 23, 2022, a June 21 news release said. Current restrictions under the regime target European Union imports of Crimea or Sevastopol-origin goods and infrastructural or financial investments and tourism services in the annexed regions. The sanctions were first put in place in June 2014, following annexation by Russia.
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in a June 13 opinion rejected Russian businessman Oleg Deripaska's challenge to his sanctions listing, granting the Office of Foreign Assets Control's motion for summary judgment. Deripaska, who argued his listing as part of the wave of sanctions in the wake of Russia's annexation of the Crimean Peninsula in 2014 violated multiple procedural and constitutional rights. Deripaska claimed that OFAC violated his Fifth Amendment due process rights by “relying on undisclosed classified information and failing to provide him with adequately detailed unclassified summaries of that information.” Deripaska is a “non-resident alien who lacks sufficient contact with the United States” to bring a due process challenge, Judge Amit Mehta said. Mehta said that “even if the court were to consider Deripaska’s due process claim on the merits, it would reject it” because the International Emergency Economic Powers Act explicitly says that OFAC can rely on classified information in its determinations.
The two top Republicans on the Senate and House foreign affairs committees urged President Joe Biden to immediately impose a second round of sanctions against Russia under the U.S. Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination Act. In a June 16 letter, Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, and Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, said the administration was required to impose a second round of sanctions under the CBW Act unless it certified to Congress by June 2 that the Vladimir Putin regime was “no longer using chemical weapons in violation of international law” and agreed to on-site inspections. The Biden administration had imposed the first round of sanctions against Russia in March (see 2103020067).
The Congressional Research Service on June 7 published a report on U.S. sanctions against Russia, detailing recent designations and moves by the Biden administration to expand sanctions authorities. The report describes current U.S. sanctions targeting Russia for cyber activities, corruption, use of chemical weapons, “coercive use” of energy exports and human rights violations.
Russia imposed a travel ban on nine Canadian citizens for their roles in placing sanctions on Russia for its arrest of opposition leader Alexey Navalny, Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced in a June 7 news release. Canada's sanctions are unlawful and have "contributed to the deterioration of our bilateral relations," the release said.
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Secretary of State Antony Blinken defended the State Department’s decision to waive sanctions against the company behind Nord Stream 2 (see 2105200055), telling a House committee that the sanctions would’ve done little to stop the nearly completed pipeline from being finished and would've only damaged U.S. relations with Germany. But Blinken also said the agency may be willing to rescind the waiver and impose the sanctions.
More than 20 House Foreign Affairs Committee Republicans said they remain “deeply concerned” about the Biden administration's decision to waive sanctions against the company behind the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project (see 2105260019) and said they weren’t satisfied by the State Department’s justification. The lawmakers, including the committee’s top Republican, Rep. Mike McCaul of Texas, said the sanctions waiver contradicts the administration's “repeated public opposition” to the completion of the pipeline.
The U.S. hasn’t ruled out imposing sanctions against Russia for its potential involvement in the ransomware attack on the Colonial Pipeline last month, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters June 2. While President Joe Biden has said he doesn’t believe the Russian government was involved in the attack, he said the people behind the attack are likely living in Russia. “We’re not taking options off of the table,” Psaki said when asked whether the U.S. was considering more sanctions. Psaki said Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin may discuss the matter when they meet later this month. She also said the U.S. is “doing our own review of a range of options.”