A bipartisan group of five lawmakers urged congressional leaders in a June 25 letter to schedule House and Senate floor time on a bill that would allow Ukraine to receive hundreds of millions of dollars in Russian assets forfeited due to export control or sanctions violations.
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The Council of the European Union on June 24 sanctioned six people for cyberattacks on information systems involving "critical infrastructure, critical state functions, the storage or processing of classified information and government emergency response teams in EU member states." The individuals include members of Callisto, a group of Russian military intelligence offers carrying out cyber operations on EU member states and third countries. Others include members of the Armageddon hacker group, which is backed by Russia's Federal Security Service, and two developers of the Conti, Trickbot and Wizard Spider malwares.
The EU this week unveiled its 14th sanctions package against Russia for its war on Ukraine, including new due diligence rules for companies with counterparties that may be selling to Russia. The package also includes new measures to prevent sanctions evasion, new import and export controls, a set of servicing restrictions on certain Russian energy shipments, designations of more than 100 people and entities, and more.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control last week sanctioned 12 executives working for Kaspersky, the Russian cybersecurity software firm, for working in Russia’s technology sector. The designations target senior officials of AO Kaspersky Lab one day after the Commerce Department announced that it would be adding the lab, as well as Russia-based OOO Kaspersky Group and U.K.-based Kaspersky Labs Limited, to the Entity List (see 2406200032).
The U.K. issued a general license under its Russia sanctions regime allowing sanctioned parties to make all required payments to the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority. The license doesn't apply to any fees for an application for permission to conduct activities that fall "within any function of the FCA," or payments to the FCA "of a levy imposed by the scheme manager of the Financial Compensation Scheme." Sanctioned parties also can't make payments to the FCA that are collected by the FAC on behalf of the Financial Reporting Council. The license also requires sanctioned parties to "keep accurate, complete, and readable records" of any activity permitted under the license for six years. The license took effect June 20.
The EU General Court on June 19 rejected Russian businessperson Igor Rotenberg's bid to be removed from the EU's Russian sanctions list. Rotenberg was sanctioned for holding leadership positions in Russian companies SGM, Gazprom Drilling and Mostotrest and for his association with his father, oligarch Arkady Rotenberg, and with President Vladimir Putin.
Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., announced June 20 that they are introducing a bill to designate Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism.
The EU on June 20 agreed to a 14th package of Russia sanctions that will continue targeting Russia’s oil trade, designate various entities and people for their ties to Russia, and tighten restrictions against a so-called shadow fleet of vessels moving Russian oil below the price cap set by the Group of 7 nations and others (see 2405150025).
Canada this week sanctioned 13 people for their ties to the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in a Russian prison in February and the country’s “continued gross and systematic violations of human rights.” The designations target senior officials and employees of Russia’s investigation agency, penitentiary service and police force who were involved in Navalny’s “ill-treatment” and death, Canada said. The U.S. and the EU also have sanctioned people responsible for Navalny's imprisonment and death (see 2402230035 and 2403220016).