Russia is considering a draft bill that would allow imports of sanctioned goods under certain circumstances, according to a May 22 post on a Baker McKenzie blog. The bill, proposed earlier this month, will allow imports if the goods constitute “essential commodities that do not have analogues in Russia” or if Russia is experiencing a shortage of those goods due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Baker McKenzie said.
Ukraine’s president issued a decree amending its sanctions list, according to a May 18 post on the EU Sanctions blog and a May 14 notice from Ukraine. The decree imposes sanctions on Russian entities, bans withdrawing certain funds outside Ukraine, cancels certain licenses and permits, and delists 233 entries from sanctions, the post said. The decree also renews a ban for three years on certain Russian internet service providers and social media sites, the post said.
The Trump administration is still considering sanctioning India over purchases of Russian missile defense systems, a top State Department official said. Alice Wells, principal deputy assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asia, said there remains widespread support both within the administration and in Congress for sanctioning buyers of Russian military goods, adding that India needs to choose either U.S. or Russian military equipment, but cannot have both.
Two members of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs introduced legislation that urges the Trump administration to sanction Russian government officials responsible for human rights abuses. Reps. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., and Michael McCaul, R-Tex., said the bill aims to penalize the Russian government for imprisoning journalists, political opposition leaders and religious freedom activists, according to a May 11 press release. The bill asks the administration to impose sanctions under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights accountability Act or “other applicable” authorities.
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European Parliament members sent a letter earlier this month urging the European Commission to refrain from lifting sanctions against Russia, according to a member of the parliament. Although some officials have called for a global cessation of all sanctions during the pandemic (see 2003250010), 19 members said sanctions should only be lifted in cases in which they hinder humanitarian trade. “[N]ot all existing sanctions prevent sanctioned countries from obtaining medical equipment and essential goods,” the letter said. The members stressed that European Union sanctions on Russia include an arms embargo, an export ban for dual use goods and restrictions on access to sensitive technologies, but do not prohibit Russia from importing medical goods. The EU should do “everything in your power to maintain” Russian sanctions, the letter said.
The Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control’s April 6 sanctions targeted a white supremacist group and its three leaders (see 2004060050), the State Department said April 6, announcing its own designation of the Russian Imperial Movement as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist. The sanctions against RIM marked the “first time the United States has ever designated foreign white supremacist terrorists,” State said. The group provides paramilitary-style training to Neo-Nazis and white supremacist, the agency said.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control added three Russian nationals and one Russian entity to its Specially Designated Nationals List, OFAC said in an April 6 notice. The sanctions target Denis Valiullovich Gariyev, Nikolay Nikolayevich Trushchalov, Stanislav Anatolyevich Vorobyev and the Russian Imperial Movement. OFAC did not immediately release more information on the designations.
A United Kingdom bank was fined more than £20 million by the U.K.’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation for violating Ukraine-related sanctions, OFSI said in a notice released March 31. OFSI said Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) made more than 100 loans to Denizbank A.S., which is owned by Russia-based Sberbank, an entity sanctioned by the European Union. While some of the loans qualified for an EU exemption under the sanctions regime, about 70 of the loans did not qualify. OFSI estimated the value of the 70 loans at about $290 million and deemed the case “most serious.”
The U.S. renewed several sanctions waivers (see 1905030044) to allow European, Chinese and Russian companies to continue working on Iranian nuclear facilities, the State Department said in a March 30 notice. The announcement will allow work to continue at Arak heavy-water research reactor, the Bushehr nuclear power plant, the Tehran Research Reactor and “other nuclear initiatives” despite U.S. sanctions, according to a March 30 Reuters report. The State Department renewed the waivers for 60 days.