March 30, 2023

UPCOMING EVENTS

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MEDIA ROUNDUP

SANCTIONS        

The U.S. Treasury sanctioned a Slovakian national for attempting to facilitate arms deals between Russia and North Korea. [U.S. Treasury]?

The U.S. Department of the Treasury took action in coordination with counterparts in the UK to designate key individuals supporting the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the production or export of Captagon, a dangerous amphetamine. [U.S. Treasury]

The U.S. sanctioned three entities and nine individuals, building on sanctions imposed upon Belarus in response to the ongoing crackdown against the pro-democracy movement and civil society surrounding the fraudulent August 2020 presidential election. [U.S. Treasury]

Actors that are connected to Burma’s military and that have enabled the military regime’s continuing atrocities, including through the importation, storage, and distribution of jet fuel to Burma’s military, were sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department. [U.S. Treasury]

The U.S. is weighing sanctions on Myanmar’s state-owned oil and gas company to choke funding to the nation’s military regime, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter, a move that risks hitting American allies involved in the sector. [Bloomberg]

The U.S. is urging the EU and other allies to sanction a Chinese satellite company for allegedly supporting Russia’s military operations in Ukraine, according to people familiar with the matter. [Bloomberg]

A joint investigation shows how business figures in east Asia linked to organized crime have helped facilitate illicit deliveries of hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil to North Korea. [FT]

The EU is targeting a way for member states to have the option to effectively ban Russian shipments of liquefied natural gas without implementing new energy sanctions. [Bloomberg]

A Finnish state-owned gas firm has continued to purchase natural gas from Russia, even after Russia's invasion of Ukraine forced an end to other contracts and trade with Russia. [Yle]

Polymetal International Plc may list in Abu Dhabi, becoming the first company with majority Russian operations to trade in the Middle East, as the gold miner re-domiciles from Jersey to Kazakhstan. [Bloomberg]

Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich secretly funded the takeover of a Dutch top division football club and bankrolled it for years during the period that he also owned Chelsea, leaked documents appear to show. [The Guardian]

Canada has added more Iranian individuals and companies to its sanctions list after the government faced heavy criticism at a diaspora event. The new sanctions apply to eight people, as well as a company that creates armored vehicles and a cybersecurity training institute. [Globe and Mail]

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the United States was looking at ways to strengthen its sanctions against Iran, but acknowledged the sanctions had not resulted in the behavioral or policy changes Washington desires from Tehran. [Reuters]

Russia has become the largest foreign investor in Iran over the past year, according to Iranian officials, as the two heavily sanctioned nations have stepped up co-operation since Russian forces invaded Ukraine. [FT]?

COMPLIANCE + ENFORCEMENT?        

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Tuesday said she was launching a commitment between the United States and more than 20 foreign governments to create a registry of beneficial ownership of legal entities to help them more effectively fight corruption. [Reuters]?

The EU is planning to launch a project with nine member states to identify gaps in the sanctions regime against Russia and to improve coordination between national authorities when enforcing penalties. [Bloomberg]

The U.S. Federal Reserve and the U.S. Treasury Department are imposing a $97.8 million fine on a large U.S. financial institution for the violation of U.S. sanctions related to allowing a foreign bank to make prohibited transactions on one of the bank’s platforms. [WSJ]?

EXPORT CONTROLS + SUPPLY CHAIN        

The U.S. Senate Finance Committee Chair ramped up his investigation into automobile supply chain links to forced labor in the Xinjiang region of China, with new questions for automakers and tier 1 suppliers in letters sent this week. [U.S. Senate]

The U.S. administration imposed new trade restrictions on five Chinese companies for allegedly aiding in the repression of the Uyghur Muslim minority but China rejected the accusation as "lies" aimed at constraining it. [Reuters]

The U.S. moved this month to cut off a Chinese conglomerate’s access to Western technology, but the firm can still secure those goods through a technicality that some former senior officials say is a major loophole in the U.S. export-control regime. [WSJ]

Huawei reportedly said it has developed its own chip design tools, a move aimed at side-stepping U.S. sanctions and making the Chinese technology giant more self-sufficient in the semiconductor space. [CNBC]

A Russian body armor manufacturer is importing Chinese components for its vests — some of which are being used on the battlefield in Ukraine, according to trade data, photographs and Ukrainians who say they’ve recovered the vests from the front lines. [POLITICO]

Germany wants EU nations to introduce end-user controls on technological and electronic goods that Russia could be using for military purposes in Ukraine, the country’s economy minister said. [Bloomberg]

The EU has agreed to allow retaliation against countries that put undue economic pressure on EU members to change their policies, such as the trade restrictions the bloc says China has imposed on Lithuania. [Reuters]

Russia is helping Iran gain advanced digital-surveillance capabilities as Tehran seeks deeper cooperation on cyberwarfare, people familiar with the matter said, adding another layer to a burgeoning military alliance that the U.S. sees as a threat. [WSJ]?

HUMAN RIGHTS        

A Reuters review of more than 2,000 court cases shows how Russia uses facial recognition with the aid of U.S. technology to identify and sweep up the Kremlin's opponents. [Reuters]

The U.S, Australia, Denmark and Norway announced the Export Controls and Human Rights Initiative to combat authoritarian governments misuse of technology. The initiative includes the development of a written code of conduct to guide the application of human rights criteria to export licensing policy and practice. [White House]?