March 16, 2023
The Readbook is Kharon's weekly roundup of our published pieces, upcoming events, and the best curated news feed on the intersection?of international security and global commerce.
UPCOMING EVENTS
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THIS WEEK ON THE KHARON BRIEF
Chinese Aerospace Institute Added to U.S. Export Control List after Years of Acquiring Western Technology
Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced restrictions on the export of certain technologies to 10 research institutes affiliated with China-based Beihang University, that has a history of using intermediaries to acquire U.S.-origin technology.?[Read more ]
MEDIA ROUNDUP
SANCTIONS
SANCTIONS
The U.S. Department of the Treasury designated three individuals in?Bosnia and Herzegovina?for their actions that further their agendas for political and personal gain, at the expense of peace, stability, and progress in the Western Balkans.?[U.S. Treasury ]
The members of the Russian Elites, Proxies, and Oligarchs (REPO) Task Force jointly issued a Global Advisory on?Russian?Sanctions Evasion that will contribute to effective sanctions implementation and compliance across REPO members’ jurisdictions by preventing the undermining of financial sanctions, export controls, and other restrictive measures. [U.S. Treasury ]
U.S. officials will focus on efforts to legally liquidate the property of?Russian?oligarchs, expand financial penalties on those who facilitate the evasion of sanctions, and close loopholes in the law that allow oligarchs to use shell companies to move through the U.S. financial system. [U.S. News ]
U.S. sanctions on?Russia?have been tuned up to choke its war effort against Ukraine, but there’s one area important to the Kremlin’s military output that has so far avoided scrutiny. It involves a high tech American manufacturer that may be flouting export controls.?[PBS ]
Russia?was able to save abroad about a third of the USD 227 billion windfall earned last year from its commodity exports, creating a potential new flashpoint as the U.S. and its allies look to tighten their sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine. [Bloomberg ]?
A?Russia-based private equity firm confirmed the acquisition of a subsidiary of a U.S. farm equipment maker company, but declined to disclose the price. It said the deal had obtained approval from a Russian government commission on the control of foreign investment. [Reuters ]
Turkey?abruptly stopped the transit of sanctioned goods to?Russia?as the European Union and the U.S. pressure allies to support measures imposed over President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.?[Bloomberg ]
领英推荐
En route to New Delhi this month, U.S. officials proclaimed themselves satisfied that?India?is buying?Russian?oil below G-7 price caps designed to undercut Moscow’s war in Ukraine without disrupting global energy flows.?[Bloomberg ]
European shareholder states have decided to liquidate INSTEX, which facilitated legitimate trade between?Europe?and?Iran, particularly in humanitarian goods, due to continued obstruction from Iran.?[U.K .]
North Korean?laborers dispatched to?China?are still making clothing for South Korean and U.S. brands, according to photos of clothing produced by North Korean workers at a factory in China. [Daily NK ]
COMPLIANCE & ENFORCEMENT
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) launched the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) statistics dashboard to provide a single source of data on enforcement actions that will allow users to select specific views for greater details of shipments stopped by CBP under UFLPA. [U.S. CBP ]
The U.S. Justice Department announced a coordinated international takedown of ChipMixer, a darknet cryptocurrency “mixing” service responsible for laundering more than USD 3 billion worth of cryptocurrency between 2017 and the present.?[U.S. Justice ]
The United States announced the unsealing of a warrant for the seizure of a Boeing 737-7JU aircraft owned by PJSC Rosneft Oil Company, a Russian integrated energy company headquartered in Moscow, Russia, headed by Igor Ivanovich Sechin.?[U.S. Justice ]
EXPORT CONTROLS + SUPPLY CHAIN
The U.S. wants to extradite a Russian national at the center of a suspected secret supply chain that prosecutors say used American technology to support President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine.?[Bloomberg ]
While Russia-bound exports of semiconductors, machinery, and other equipment from places like the U.S., the EU, and Japan have dropped sharply, firms in numerous sanctions-skeptical Asian and Middle Eastern jurisdictions have stepped into the breach, selling their own equipment or reshipping foreign goods to Russia.?[WSJ ]
The EU is planning to ask third countries that have seen a surge in imports from the EU of advanced technologies and other goods that could be used for military purposes by Russia in Ukraine to enhance trade monitoring.?[Bloomberg ]
The EU is exploring ways to police how European companies invest in production facilities overseas, following similar U.S. moves to limit the ability of China and other rivals to acquire cutting-edge technologies from the west.?[FT ]
The increasingly global nature of intellectual property development could provide Beijing some protection from the U.S.-led push to cut China out of supply chains, as companies worry about losing access to key technology in such areas as electric vehicles. [Nikkei ]
CRYPTO
The Central Bank of Russia has added another entity to its register of authorized issuers of digital financial assets. The platform becomes the fifth ‘information system operator’ in the country that can legally tokenize traditional assets and organize their trade. [Bitcoin.com ]
A recent report detailed attempts to buy cryptocurrency in Russia and exchange it into cash when physically present in the U.K., and named eight Russian crypto exchanges willing to facilitate such transactions. [CryptoSlate ]
HUMAN RIGHTS
In a report to the latest session of the Human Rights Council, the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights while countering terrorism warned of an alarming increase in the use of “intrusive and high-risk technologies” in Xinjiang, among other regions. [UN ]?
Myanmar is a “failing state,” and the crisis is getting exponentially worse, a UN special rapporteur for the country has warned, urging countries to adopt the same unified resolve that followed the invasion of Ukraine.?[Guardian ]