The U.S., the U.K. and Canada last week issued a range of new sanctions to mark the internationally recognized Human Rights Day on Dec. 10, designating people across more than 10 jurisdictions for their ties to human rights violations. They include U.S. sanctions against Chinese officials with ties to human rights abuses in Xinjiang, including one designated under the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act.
The U.K. this week designated 25 people and 20 entities under its Russia sanctions regime. The listings included a mix of businesses based in Russia, China, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Serbia and Uzbekistan, covering industries in the energy, shipping and defense sectors. Among those sanctioned was Russian firm Aeroscan, which was designated for supplying drones to the Russian military, along with Dubai-based shipping companies Radiating World Shipping Services and Star Voyages Shipping services, which do business in a Russian "sector of strategic significance."
The Biden administration should sanction Russian weapons manufacturer JSC Alabuga, which is receiving help from Iran to produce its own version of Iran’s Shahed-136 kamikaze drone, known as the Geran-2, on Russian soil, according to Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark.
A conference report on the 2024 defense spending bill released this week by House and Senate negotiators said the legislation won’t include a polarizing measure that could have led to new guardrails around U.S. outbound investments into China. The leaders of the Senate and House Armed Services committees ultimately decided to leave out the provision in the compromise version of the National Defense Authorization Act despite the fact that it passed as part of Senate’s version of the NDAA in July (see 2307280052).
The U.S. and the U.K. this week sanctioned two Russians involved in phishing campaigns against the U.K. to undermine the country’s “democratic processes.” The sanctions target Aleksandrovich Peretyatko, a Russian Federal Security Service officer, and Andrey Stanislavovich Korinets, a Russian information technology worker.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned 13 people and companies responsible for handling millions of dollars of Iranian sales revenue or for arranging shipments of Iranian commodities to the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen. The sanctions target Iran-linked people and entities involved in a “complex network of exchange houses” and businesses across several countries, including Lebanon, Turkey, St. Kitts, Russia and the U.K.
The U.K. government this week issued new guidance to alert the country’s financial services industry about ways Russia is using third countries to evade export controls and sanctions. The “red alert” also includes a list of red flags that banks, credit card operators, foreign exchange dealers and other payment service providers should monitor for potential Russian sanctions evasion, and the country’s National Crime Agency urged financial institutions to submit reports about any suspicious activity.
China’s Ministry of Commerce criticized the U.S. government's recent sanctions against Chinese companies this week for illegally supplying Russia's military and defense industrial base (see 2312050046), saying the move is a "typical example of unilateral sanctions," which undermine international trade rules and affects the security of supply chains. China is "strongly dissatisfied with and firmly opposed to this,” the ministry said, according to an unofficial translation. The news release called for an immediate cessation of the sanctions, adding that China will "safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises."
Robert Wise, a New York-based lawyer who helped manage luxury properties for sanctioned Russian billionaire Viktor Vekselberg, was sentenced Dec. 5 to one year of house arrest followed by one year of probation. U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil also levied a $100,000 fine against the lawyer, to be paid out in $8,333.33 monthly installments over the next year.
The Bureau of Industry and Security's addition of 42 entities to the Entity List this week “sends a clear message” that the U.S. and its allies “are watching and will act forcefully” in response to Russian export control evasion, BIS official Thea Kendler said. “Our controls are in place to protect the national security of the United States, and bad actors that violate them will be held accountable.”