Canada this week announced a new set of sanctions against Belarus for the Alexander Lukashenko regime’s role in the country’s “fraudulent” 2020 presidential election. The designations target nine people and seven entities, including people “complicit in Russia’s ongoing” war against Ukraine, government officials and military manufacturing and technology companies. The U.S. announced new designations against Belarus this week (see 2308090025).
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week extended a general license that authorizes certain transactions related to Russian financial institutions. General License 13F, which replaced 13E, now expires 12:01 a.m. EST Nov. 8. The license -- which authorizes certain activities involving the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, the National Wealth Fund of the Russian Federation and the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation -- was set to expire Aug. 17 (see 2305190059).
The U.S., the U.K. and Canada this week sanctioned the former governor of Lebanon’s central bank, Riad Salameh, and others involved in an international corruption scheme. The Treasury Department said Salameh “abused his position of power,” to “enrich himself and his associates” by funneling hundreds of millions of dollars through shell companies to invest in European real estate.
Lawmakers, business groups and think tanks gave a mixed bag of immediate feedback on the Biden administration’s executive order restricting outbound investments in China, with some applauding the government’s initial, cautious approach, and others expressing frustration that the restrictions don’t go far enough.
Miller & Chevalier international lawyer Christopher Stagg is co-chairing the American Bar Association's export controls and economic sanctions committee, he announced on LinkedIn. Stagg joined Miller & Chevalier in 2021 after serving as a senior policy adviser with the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls at the State Department. At Miller, he focuses on export controls, economic sanctions and Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. matters.
The Moscow Arbitration Court in an Aug. 1 order froze shares of companies owned by Goldman Sachs Group, worth around $36 million, after Russian bank Otkritie filed a lawsuit against the U.S. banking giant, the Financial Times reported. State-owned Otkritie said Goldman refused to fulfill $6.4 million in debt obligations under derivatives deals between the two banks. Goldman said it was not able to settle the debt due to sanctions set against the Russian bank, FT reported.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned three Sinaloa Cartel members involved in illegally trafficking fentanyl and other “deadly drugs.” The designations target brothers Alfonso Arzate Garcia and Rene Arzate Garcia, both Baja California, Mexico-based cartel leaders. OFAC also sanctioned Rafael Guadalupe Felix Nunez, a “violent” cartel leader in Manzanillo, Mexico. The agency also published a Sinaloa Cartel "operations chart."
The U.S. this week announced a new set of sanctions against Belarus, targeting eight people, five entities and one aircraft with ties to President Alexander Lukashenko's regime. The designations target people and entities that have helped the government evade sanctions or are involved in the government’s “continued civil society repression” or its “complicity” in Russia’s war against Ukraine. The Office of Foreign Assets Control issued two new general licenses to authorize certain transactions with two of the newly sanctioned entities.
The Bureau of Industry and Security concluded a round of interagency review for a final rule that could expand nuclear nonproliferation export controls on China and Macau. BIS sent the rule for review July 24 (see 2307260008), and the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs said it was sent back Aug. 7 with some changes.
The Census Bureau is moving forward with a new data element in the Automated Export System that shippers must report when exporting items classified under U.S. Munitions List Category XXI. The agency didn’t list any public comments objecting to the change that it proposed in May (see 2305020007), which Census said will help it collect more data on Category XXI exports and defense services that are “not otherwise enumerated” under other USML categories.