After the EU agreed to its eighth sanctions package on Russia over its war in Ukraine (see 2210050053), Russia said the restrictions would come with consequences and could lead to a temporary cut in the country's production of oil. The sanctions package includes a price cap on Russian oil. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, speaking to Bloomberg TV, said Russia won't sell oil to any countries to impose a price cap, Bloomberg reported Oct. 5.
The U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation in an Oct. 5 notice added an entry to its Yemen sanctions regime. OFSI added Ahmad al-Hamzi, major general and commander of the Houthi Air Force and Air Defense Forces, to the sanctions list.
The U.K. imposed new sanctions pertaining to Russia's escalation of the conflict in Ukraine by annexing the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhiz, the government announced Sept. 30. The new restrictions include bans on export of services and the designation of Elvira Nabiullina, the governor of the Central Bank. The U.K. said Nabiullina "has been instrumental in steering the Russian economy" through the invasion of Ukraine by extending the ruble into Ukrainian lands occupied by Russia.
The U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation on Sept. 30 updated its Libya sanctions guidance. The updated page includes amended sections on full and partial asset freezes, the Libyan Investment Authority and Libya Africa Investment Portfolio and ownership and ownership and control. Further, the revised guidance includes a new section on exceptions and licenses. Such exceptions include not requiring a party to obtain a license for a relevant institution crediting a frozen account with interest due on the account, for a relevant institution crediting a frozen account where it gets funds transferred to that institution for crediting to the account and when funds are transferred to a relevant institution for crediting to an account held by a designated party in discharge of an obligation that came up before the party was designated.
The U.K. added two entries to its Yemen sanctions list, the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation said in a Sept. 28 notice. The entries are Motlaq Amer Al Marrani, former deputy head of the Houthi National Security Bureau, and Mansur Ahmad Al-Sa'adi, Houthi Naval Forces chief of staff. The U.N. Security Council had added the two to its sanctions list two days earlier (see 2209280012).
The U.K. amended seven entries under its Russia sanctions regime, the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation said in a Sept. 28 notice. The entries for Alexander Dmitrievich Kharichev, Denis Sergeevich Kurashov, Mikhail Valentinovich Kovalchuk, Iskander Kakhramonovich Makhmudov, Mikhail Leonidovich Rodikov, Oleksandr Saulenko and Andrey Veniaminovich Yarin were updated. The changes largely amounted to the spellings of the entries' names in Russian and dates of birth.
The EU is weighing the prospect of adding shipping restrictions to its oil sanctions, people familiar with the matter said, Bloomberg reported. The move comes amid discussions over the imposition of a price cap on Russian oil. The prospective shipping ban would bar EU ships from shipping Russian oil sold above a set threshold, Bloomberg reported Sept. 28. The move would most affect Greece. the the world's largest oil tanker-owning country, Bloomberg said.
Labor negotiations at two key U.K. ports, Liverpool and Felixstowe, have stalled, deepening concerns over the global supply recovery following COVID-19 pandemic-era disruptions, Bloomberg reported. Data compiled by the news service reveals small backups forming at nearby ports in southern England during the strikes, with three box carriers parked outside Felixstowe and four more waiting outside London Gateway and another near Southampton. The owner of Liverpool's container terminals, Peel Ports Group, issued a statement Sept. 28 accusing the dockworkers of undermining the local economy. Hapag-Lloyd said all lines calling at Felixstowe are trying to divert their vessels to other U.K. ports during the strike, and Maersk reworked its schedule for its ships heading to the U.K. over the next couple of weeks to ease oncoming bottlenecks.
The U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation assessed Hong Kong International Wine and Spirits Competition Ltd. a fine of more than $32,000 for violating sanctions pertaining to Ukraine, OFSI said in a Sept. 27 report. The penalty pertains to the company's receipt of three payments and 78 wine bottles from a designated entity which were entered into competitions from 2017 to 2020, the total value of which is estimated to be around $4,200. HKIWSC did not make any prior disclosures in the case over these payments and wine, leading to OFSI applying the full penalty amount. The sanctions agency said that it is confident that the company "either knew or had reasonable cause to suspect that it was in breach of those prohibitions."
Turkey recently imposed an export ban on milk powder, the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service said, the latest in a series of measures this year to restrict agricultural products leaving the market in order to stabilize domestic prices amid inflation. The export ban applies to milk powders both with fat and skimmed milk, the agency said, and runs from mid-September through the end of the year. The country previously banned and then lifted export restrictions on butter and olive oil (see 2207210009).