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.
Rosneft, the U.S.-sanctioned Russian energy company, has stopped operating in Venezuela and sold “all of its interest” in Venezuelan businesses, the company said March 28. Rosneft said it will no longer participate in “joint ventures” with Venezuelan entities “as well as oil-field services companies, commercial and trading operations.” The company’s announcement came weeks after the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned Rosneft subsidiaries for operating in Venezuela (see 2002180033 and 2003120033). Rosneft has criticized U.S. sanctions, calling them illegal and saying in February it was seeking “legal protection” (see 2002210022).
Five Senate Democrats asked the European Union to sanction a U.S.-designated Russian national for his involvement in U.S. election interference, according to a March 12 letter. In the letter, Sens. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, Bob Menendez, D-N.J., Jack Reed, D-R.I., and Mark Warner, D-Va., said Yevgeniy Prigozhin and his firms, which include the Wagner Group, a Russian paramilitary organization, are “actively engaged in spreading malign influence.” Due to the “broad reach and expanding nature of Prigozhin and the Wagner group’s malign activities abroad, we urge the European Union to take steps to constrain their ability to operate and to deter the Kremlin from engaging in these activities.” The senators added that U.S. sanctions are “only as strong as our multilateral alliances,” and said U.S. pressure would be “significantly enhanced” with EU collaboration.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control issued a Venezuela-related designation, amended three Venezuela-related general licenses and amended two frequently asked questions, according to a March 12 notice. The designation targets Switzerland-based TNK Trading International S.A. for operating in Venezuela’s oil sector. The company is a subsidiary of Russian state-controlled Rosneft Oil Company, according to a press release.
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The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned two Chinese nationals who laundered stolen cryptocurrency, Treasury said in a March 2 news release. The two people, Tian Yinyin and Li Jiadong, were responsible for a 2018 “cyber intrusion” linked to Lazarus Group, a North Korean state-sponsored “malicious cyber group” sanctioned in September for cyber espionage and data theft (see 1909130039). Tian and Li were also designated for providing financial, material or technological support for Lazarus Group.
Europe completed the first transactions under INSTEX, the European payment system designed to allow countries to trade with Iran despite U.S. sanctions, according to a Feb. 26 news release from the Joint Commission of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. During a recent meeting, the commission, which includes representatives from China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom and Iran, also said it added four more European countries as “new shareholders” in INSTEX and expects more to join. “Participants welcomed positive developments in the processing of first transactions by INSTEX,” the news release said. The news release did not name the new shareholders.
The United Nations Security Council renewed sanctions on people and entities threatening peace and security in Yemen for one year, according to a Feb. 25 notice. The sanctions were renewed with 13 UN members voting in favor and two abstentions: China and Russia. The sanctions also impose an arms embargo on militias in the region loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh.