The Office of Foreign Assets Control urged a federal court late last month to dismiss the sole remaining claim in a lawsuit challenging the agency’s sanctioning of two former Afghan government officials for corruption.

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).

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).

The U.S. this week designated people and companies tied to the sanctioned president of the Serb Republic and his family, including businesses they use to generate wealth or evade sanctions, the Office of Foreign Assets Control said. OFAC also issued two new general licenses to authorize certain transactions with the people and companies and updated one existing license.

The Council of the European Union on June 17 extended until June 23, 2025, its sanctions regime related to the annexation by Russia of Crimea and the Ukrainian city of Sevastopol. The sanctions, which had been set to expire this month, include financial restrictions, import and export restrictions, and more.

Canada last week joined other Group of 7 nations in imposing a host of new sanctions and export controls against Russia (see 2406120036 and 2406130017), targeting people and entities involved in Russia-related “disinformation” efforts, companies tied to Russia’s military-industrial complex and entities trying to evade Western sanctions. The country also placed new export restrictions on “computer numerically controlled machine tools” that Russia could use to make weapons, prohibiting people in Canada and Canadians abroad from sending those items to Russia.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned several people and entities, along with one vessel, for helping to procure weapons for the Iran-backed Houthis or for shipping commodities to fund the Yemen-based group. The designations target procurement officers and companies in China along with others in Oman, Cameroon and the United Arab Emirates.

The U.S. last week sanctioned a “violent, extremist” Israel-based group for blocking convoys of humanitarian aid from being delivered to Palestinians in Gaza. The designation targets Tzav 9, which has worked for months to block roads, damage aid trucks and destroy life-saving equipment destined to Gaza, the State Department said. “We will continue to use all tools at our disposal to promote accountability for those who attempt or undertake such heinous acts, and we expect and urge that Israeli authorities do the same,” the State Department said.

Multinational companies conducting internal sanctions investigations are facing a range of challenges interviewing employees due to a rising “divergence” among different governments’ sanctions regimes, Baker McKenzie said in a June client alert. Sanctions investigations “require a nuanced understanding of the applicable and often multi-faceted sanctions laws” across the U.S., Germany, the U.K. and other European nations, the law firm said. Investigators, for example, may face hurdles from data protection laws in the EU, and they may need to take into account “cultural norms and language barriers” when conducting cross-border interviews. “Cultural customs may require the interviewer to conform to cultural norms,” the firm said, “meaning that interpretation of non-verbal employee behavior for example, should be modulated accordingly.”

The U.S. government is sanctioning four people with links to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), including members of an ISIS-linked human smuggling network, the State and Treasury departments announced last week.