Russian national Oleg Vladislavovich Nikitin, general director of St. Petersburg, Russia-based energy company KS Engineering, pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia to conspiracy to skirt export controls, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Georgia announced in a press release. Nikitin, admitted to attempting to sell a power turbine to a Russian company attempting to use it on an Arctic deepwater drilling platform -- a process banned by the Commerce Department without a license. An unnamed Russian government-controlled business contracted with Nikitin to buy the turbine from a U.S. manufacturer for $17.3 million. Nikitin, along with two others, was arrested in Savannah, Georgia, attempting to carry out the transaction for the turbine.
Australia and Canada announced new sanctions that target Russia for its illegal occupation and annexation of Crimea, the countries said March 29. Australia said it designated one Russian person and four Russian entities involved in the construction of the Kerch Strait Railway Bridge, which links Russia to Crimea and Sevastopol, Ukraine, while Canada designated two people and four entities. Australia and Canada said they collaborated on the measures, which further aligns their sanctions regimes with those administered by the U.S. and the European Union.
Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with the top stories for March 22-26 in case you missed them. You can find any article by searching on the title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
The U.S. shouldn't pursue sanctions against Nord Stream 2 and instead should focus on working with European countries to find an alternative to the Russian gas pipeline project, said Daniel Fried, the former senior director of the National Security Council for presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. Although Fried said the project is a “dumb idea,” he also said he’s “not a big fan of trying to kill Nord Stream 2” with sanctions. “Let's find another way than a sanctions war with Germany,” Fried said during a March 30 event hosted by the German Marshall Fund of the U.S.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced a bill that would impose sanctions on Russian government officials responsible for human rights abuses against their own people. The bill, which was introduced in the House in February and the text released this week, would require President Joe Biden to impose Magnitsky human rights sanctions against Russia for the poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and the use of other biological weapons. The administration earlier this month sanctioned a host of Russian officials and agencies for Navalny’s poisoning and imprisonment (see 2103020067). The bill also calls for the State Department to “urge” Germany to “withdraw its support” from the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project (see 2103180047). The legislation was introduced by Reps. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., Joe Wilson, R-S.C., Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., and David Cicilline, D-R.I.
Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with the top stories for March 15-19 in case you missed them. You can find any article by searching on the title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
The recent U.S. decision to increase sanctions and export controls on Russia, although largely narrow, could have significant implications for exporters doing business in Russia, law firms said. U.S. companies should pay close attention to new restrictions on certain controlled services and the potential impacts of the restrictions on disclosure and reporting requirements, the firms said.
The European Union sanctioned 11 individuals and four entities for human rights violations in various countries, the European Council announced in a March 22 news release. The 15 designations, along with the sanctioning of four Russian individuals in early March, constitute the first major listings under the EU Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime and include individuals and entities from China, North Korea, Libya, Russia, South Sudan and Eritrea. In its first step against Eritrea since fighting began over Ethiopia's Tigray region, the EU sanctioned the nation's National Security Office for extrajudicial killings and arbitrary arrests. The other sanctions target a Chinese entity (see 2103220034), the Central Public Prosecutor's Office in North Korea and Kaniyat Militia in Libya.
European Union diplomats have agreed to impose new sanctions on 11 individuals and entities for their role in human rights abuses in China, Germany's DW Akademie reported. The new sanctions will include an asset freeze and a travel ban and will apply to individuals and entities from China and other countries. The measures are expected to be formally approved March 22 and will mark the EU's first sanctions against China since a 1989 arms embargo following the Tiananmen Square massacre. Two EU diplomats said that the list includes four Chinese officials and one entity accused of violating the human rights of the Uyghur Muslim minority in China's Xinjiang region, DW reported. Sanctions also will be levied against officials from Russia, Libya, South Sudan and North Korea.
Florida resident Victor Mones Coro was sentenced to 55 months in prison for violating U.S. sanctions on Venezuela by chartering private flights for top Venezuelan officials, the Department of Justice said March 17. Sentenced in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Mones Coro provided millions of dollars in charter flight services to former Venezuelan Vice President Tareck El Aissami, his frontman Samark Lopez Bello, Venezuelan Supreme Court President Maikel Moreno and President Nicolas Maduro's 2018 campaign for president. The chartered flights violate the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctions on the Venezuelan officials for their role in subverting democracy and proliferating authoritarianism. Mones Coro also will pay a $250,000 fine and serve two years of supervised release.