The European Commission's next sanctions package against Russia will ban imports of Russian liquefied natural gas, designate more shadow fleet vessels, target more Russian banks, introduce new export controls and more, President Ursula von der Leyen announced last week.
U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he and President Donald Trump discussed how to "decisively increase the pressure" on Russian President Vladimir Putin "to get him to agree to a peace deal."
House Select Committee on China Chairman John Moolenaar, R-Mich., urged the Trump administration Sept. 18 to work with U.S. allies to take several steps, including restricting or prohibiting outbound investment in China’s aviation sector, to pressure Beijing to stop limiting exports of critical minerals.
Recent updates to the U.S. Munitions List (see 2508260011) may be causing error messages for licenses submitted in the State Department’s Defense Export Control and Compliance System, State said this week.
The U.K. on Sept. 18 amended the entry for China-based Autel Robotics under its Russia sanctions regime. The listing was revised to remove Autel Intelligent Technology as Autel Robotics' parent company.
Australia this week announced new sanctions against Russia and also said it's lowering its price cap on Russian oil from $60 per barrel to $47.60 per barrel, following a similar move by other nations imposing the cap (see 2507180017 and 2509120045). The new designations target 95 Russian "shadow fleet" vessels that are helping Moscow evade international sanctions, Australia said. "We will continue to take coordinated and decisive action to disrupt Russia's ability to fund its invasion, including through constraining its oil revenues."
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned Los Mayos, an affiliate of the designated Sinaloa Cartel, for producing and trafficking fentanyl, cocaine, marijuana, heroin and methamphetamine from northwest Mexico into the U.S. OFAC also sanctioned five people and 15 companies aiding Los Mayos just south of the U.S.-Mexico border.
Planet Labs, a California-based Earth imaging company, disclosed this month that it has submitted a voluntary self-disclosure to the Bureau of Industry and Security about potential export control violations.
The increasing trend by Wassenaar Arrangement members, including those in the EU, of adopting export controls outside the regime reflects a shift away from multilateral bodies and “increases the risk of a patchwork of controls within the EU single market,” Akin said in a client alert.
To crack down on Hong Kong’s significant role in sanctions evasion, the U.S. should increase funding for the Bureau of Industry and Security’s budget, pass pending anti-money laundering legislation and sanction banks involved in the Chinese territory’s illicit trade, a Hong Kong expert said Sept. 18.