After U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan last week said the Biden administration is preparing new sanctions against Chinese entities, including possibly financial institutions, for supporting Russia's military, China said it “firmly rejects all kinds of illicit unilateral sanctions” that the U.S. may be considering.
A new research briefing by the U.K. Parliament's House of Commons examines the current state of sanctions against Russia, allied efforts to tackle sanctions evasion and the top countries continuing to support Russia’s military despite the restrictions: China, Iran, North Korea and Belarus. The 24-page report notes that the “focus” of the Group of 7 countries, along with the EU, has recently shifted to “preventing sanctions evasion and closing any remaining loopholes in the existing regime,” although Russia continues to find workarounds. The report said “questions remain” over “the effectiveness of those sanctions as Russia has sought alternative markets and established new trade routes and methods for circumvention.”
The Office of Foreign Assets Control last week sanctioned two members of the Russian “hacktivist group” Cyber Army of Russia Reborn, Yuliya Vladimirovna Pankratova and Denis Olegovich Degtyarenko, for cyberattacks against U.S. critical infrastructure. OFAC said Pankratova is the group's leader and Degtyarenko is its primary hacker, and they have helped the group conduct cyberattacks against Ukraine and governments and companies supporting Ukraine.
The EU this month updated its set of best practices to help member states better implement sanctions. The 42-page guidance, issued by the Council of the European Union, outlines how new designations should be applied, how governments should approach delisting, the roles of companies and other “economic operators,” areas and procedures for coordinating sanctions with other agencies and countries, and more.
People and companies that tried to meet their sanctions reporting requirements to the U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation last week may have experienced issues due to the technology outage faced by businesses around the world July 19, OFSI said in a notice. The outage, caused by an issue with Microsoft's third-party information technology vendor CrowdStrike, "may be impacting upon firms’ ability to fulfill their reporting obligations to OFSI, or meet other deadlines to supply us with information," the agency said. If a reporting company missed a deadline because of the outage, they should "include the reason for the delay in your e-mail to us. OFSI will take this into account when assessing the submission."
The U.K. on July 18 sanctioned various oil tankers that transport Russian oil, in an effort to "crack down on Russia's 'shadow fleet,'" the U.K. Prime Minister's Office announced. Eleven Russian ships were sanctioned, including the Rocky Runner, which previously attempted to evade British restrictions by "changing its operator."
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned more people and vessels across Asia and the Middle East for their roles in aiding the Yemen-based Houthis through illegal shipping and financing networks. OFAC said the designations specifically target people with ties to Houthi financier Sa’id al-Jamal see (see 2406170026, 2312280012, 2401120015 and 2403260016).
The Office of Foreign Assets Control is updating its license application process and portal to alert applicants where their application is in the agency’s “processing timeline,” OFAC said July 18. After submitting an application, the applicant will now start receiving one of 10 “case statuses” as their application is reviewed:
The U.S. this week sanctioned the Mexico-based Abdul Karim Conteh Human Smuggling Organization and four people associated with the group for helping to smuggle “noncitizens” into the U.S. The Treasury Department said Sierra Leonean national Abdul Karim Conteh and his wife, Mexican national Veronica Roblero Pivaral, help lead the group, while Togolese national Pasaman Francis Marin Abbe Pidoukou and Sierra Leonean national Issa Kamara help transport migrants. Brian Nelson, Treasury’s undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said the move “disrupts the ability of those seeking to exploit and endanger desperate individuals in search of a better life for themselves and their loved ones.”
When Bloomberg asked former President Donald Trump if he has thought about easing or eliminating sanctions on Russia as part of a peace settlement in Ukraine if he is reelected, the Republican nominee replied, "Yeah. So what we’re doing with sanctions is we’re forcing everyone away from us. So I don’t love sanctions. I found them very useful with Iran, but I didn’t even need sanctions with Iran so much. I told China that and Russia is in a similar position."