The European Union Foreign Affairs Council recommended placing restrictive measures on the individuals responsible for the arrest and persecution of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, European Commission High Representative Josep Borrell announced in a Feb. 22 press briefing. The sanctions, which include an asset freeze and travel ban, would mark the first use of the EU Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime that became law in December (see 2012070010). The decision to impose these sanctions will now be subject to an administrative review by the European Council where they will likely be ultimately decided and imposed within a week, Borrell said.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control updated two sanctions entries for a Russian entity and a vessel involved in the construction of the Russian gas pipeline Nord Stream 2 (see 2101190018), according to a Feb. 22 notice. The agency added identifying information for the entries and other sanctions information. OFAC didn’t comment on the update.
A Commerce Department rule designed to cut off U.S. shipments to foreign military intelligence agencies in China, Russia and beyond could create a host of due-diligence issues for exporters, industry lawyers said. Those issues could be compounded by industry uncertainty surrounding the scope of the rule, which may be unclear without BIS guidance. “We're getting an enormous number of questions,” said Giovanna Cinelli, an export control lawyer with Morgan Lewis. “I think the rule is open to interpretation, and that’s creating uncertainty.”
House lawmakers in both political parties wrote to ask the State Department to provide a briefing on the agency’s implementation of sanctions against Nord Stream 2 and further steps the U.S. can take to block work on the Russian gas pipeline (see 2101190018). The members specifically asked for an update on the State Department’s “assessment of possible sanctionable activity” by vessels working on the pipeline, which companies are complying with the 30-day wind-down period the U.S. offered on sanctionable activity, the status of talks with allies and any proposals offered to the Biden administration to persuade the U.S. to forgo the sanctions.
Although the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control saw a decrease in total sanctions settlements last year, the agency increased its output of sanctions guidance and advisories, shedding more light on OFAC’s compliance expectations, sanctions lawyers said. Lawyers also said the agency flexed its enforcement jurisdiction by pursuing penalties against a variety of industries beyond large commercial banks, a trend that should continue this year.
European Union Vice President Josep Borrell plans to place or review sanctions on Russian and Myanmar officials, he announced Feb. 9 during a European Parliament debate. Borrell, who visited Moscow last week, said sanctions could be included in a European response to the jailing of Russian dissident Alexei Navalny, who was sentenced to three and a half years in prison Feb. 2. In another Feb. 9 speech, Borrell laid out his plans to consider imposing additional targeted sanctions on individuals and businesses owned by the Myanmar military for their involvement in the Feb. 1 military coup. He also announced his intention to assess the use of the Everything But Arms trade preferences.
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The United Kingdom’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation on Feb. 1 amended and added sanctions entries under nine sanctions regimes. The U.K. amended entries under the regimes for Russia, Yemen, Syria, Libya, Iran, chemical weapons, the Central African Republic and Afghanistan. The U.K. also added four entries to its Zimbabwe regime.
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, President Joe Biden’s nominee to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said she would support sanctions against China and will lead an effort to stop the country from taking over international standards-setting bodies. She said she also will take aggressive measures to counter China’s growing role at the United Nations and its human rights violations. “I see that as my highest priority,” she told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Jan. 27 during confirmation proceedings.
A European Union Parliament resolution adopted Jan. 21 calls on the EU to sanction people and entities involved in the arrest and imprisonment of Alexei Navalny in Russia earlier this month. Although the EU sanctioned several Russian officials last year for poisoning Navalny (see 2010150008), a Russian opposition politician, the Parliament said those measures need to be expanded and “significantly” strengthened.