The Biden administration needs more funding to support its efforts to counter Russia-related export control and sanctions evasion, the White House said in a request to Congress for supplemental FY 2024 funding. The funding request, which asks for more resources to support a range of “critical national security priorities,” calls for $100 million in additional funding for the State Department’s nonproliferation and anti-terrorism programs to support “export control, threat reduction, and countering weapons of mass destruction assistance that addresses Russia’s supply chains and sanctions evasion,” along with other national security initiatives. Another $210 million in additional funding for the State Department’s “diplomatic programs" would in part support “sustaining” sanctions and “export control efforts.”
The Office of Foreign Assets Control last week sanctioned two people and four entities for being a part of Serb Republic President Milorad Dodik’s “patronage network” and supporting his “ongoing corruption,” including by allowing him to siphon public funds to enrich himself and his family. OFAC said Dodik uses his position in the Serb Republic, one of two entities making up Bosnia and Herzegovina, to “accumulate personal wealth through graft, bribery, and other forms of corruption.”
Although Dutch semiconductor equipment company ASML doesn’t expect the new U.S. export controls on China to have a “material effect” on the firm's financial outlook for 2023, it's preparing for the new rules to restrict more sales of its chipmaking equipment.
The European Commission last week said it plans to propose new foreign direct investment screening regulations by January, adding that it wants to “make better use of existing tools” to screen investments that may pose national security risks.
The U.S. last week removed sanctions from the son of a convicted war criminal about six months after he, his sister and mother sued the Treasury Department for taking too long to adjudicate their delisting requests.
The U.K. updated its general sanctions license allowing sanctioned parties to make "permitted payments" to Companies House, the country's executive agency that registers and publicizes company information and incorporates and dissolves limited companies. The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation updated the license to clarify that "permitted payments" means payment of fees "owed by or due from" sanctioned parties to the agency for filing a confirmation statement in respect of incorporated U.K. entities and also the payment of late filing penalty fees as a result of annual account late filings by the sanctioned parties.
The U.K. removed three people and three entities from its Iran nuclear weapons sanctions regime, in an Oct. 19 notice. The individuals are Mohsen Fakhrizadeh-Mahabadi, former head of Iran's Physics Research Centre; Mohammad Hejazi, commander of the Bassij resistance force; and Qasem Soleimani, commander of the Qods force who was killed in a U.S. air strike. The entities are Barzagani Tejarat Tavanmad Saccal Companies, Doostan International Co. and Pejman Industrial Services Corp.
The U.S. should "lift" its newest semiconductor export controls on China "as soon as possible," China's Ministry of Commerce said Oct. 18, according to an unofficial translation. The ministry said the moves abuse export control measures, "generalize the concept of national security" and are "unilateral bullying." The country "will take all necessary measures to resolutely safeguard its legitimate rights and interests." The new controls were announced in two rules by the Bureau of Industry and Security this week (see 2310170055).
More than 100 Senate and House members this week asked the Biden administration to explain the steps it’s taking to address Hamas’ and other terrorist groups’ use of cryptocurrency to raise money and evade sanctions. In an Oct. 17 bipartisan letter to the Treasury Department and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, the lawmakers pointed to reports that Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad collectively raised over $130 million in crypto between August 2021 and June 2023, and asked if the administration needs more tools to “address the national security threats posed by illicit use of crypto by terrorist organizations.”
The leaders of the House Select Committee on China are seeking information from venture capital company Sequoia on its investments in Chinese technology companies after the company announced it planned to split from its Chinese affiliate by March. In an Oct. 17 letter sent to Sequoia executives, Reps. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., and Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., said that even though the company’s split from Sequoia Capital China is a “step in the right direction,” questions remain about whether the move will “staunch future flows of American capital to problematic” Chinese companies.