The EU on Aug. 2 updated two of its Russia sanctions FAQs. The FAQs on the oil price cap now include a question on what oil is covered by the price cap and whether the measures apply to non-Russian oil cargo mixed with Russian oil. The bloc said that the measures do apply to Russian crude falling under CN code 2709.00 and Russian petroleum goods under CN code 2710.
Two U.S. Navy servicemembers, Jinchao Wei and Wenheng Zhao, were arrested in California as part of two separate cases for "transmitting sensitive military information" to China, DOJ announced Aug. 3.
House Republicans this week urged the Biden administration not to strike a deal with Beijing after Chinese officials reportedly offered to restart counter-narcotics activities with the U.S. in exchange for lifting certain trade restrictions. Beijing asked the U.S. to lift restrictions on the Ministry of Public Security’s Institute of Forensic Science, The Wall Street Journal recently reported. The institute was added to the Entity List in 2020 for its ties to human rights violations.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week removed sanctions from Satish Seemar, who was designated in 2020 for being a horse trainer for Ramzan Kadyrov, the head of the Chechen Republic who has ties to human rights abuses. OFAC also removed the vessel Addiction (9HA4571) from the Specially Designated Nationals List. The Malta-flagged yacht has links to Sergei Nikolaevich Adonev, sanctioned earlier this year for being a financier for Russian President Vladimir Putin. The agency didn’t release more information.
A senior Treasury Department official this week touted what he said has been a successful implementation of the price cap on Russian oil (see 2305190022), saying it has “struck at the heart of the Kremlin’s most important cash cow.” Eight months after the U.S. and allies announced the first cap on Russian crude oil, Russian energy is “trading at a significant discount” to other oil sources, and has significantly limited Moscow’s profits on each barrel, said Eric Van Nostrand, acting assistant secretary for economic policy.
While most shippers applauded the Federal Maritime Commission’s revised proposed rule on unreasonable carrier conduct, carriers urged the commission to again amend the wording, saying it unfairly favors exporters and stretches beyond the authority granted to the FMC by the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2022. Several major carriers said the commission should narrow the rule’s proposed definition for “unreasonableness,” allow carriers to rely on “legitimate business factors” as a reason for why they may refuse cargo space, remove the rule's documented export policy requirement and revise other proposals they say disadvantage carriers.
Andrew Adams, the DOJ attorney at the head of Task Force KleptoCapture -- the interagency body charged with enforcing U.S. sanctions on Russia -- left the department, he said on his LinkedIn page. Adams will return to his role as assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, which he originally assumed in 2013. He was appointed to lead the task force in March of last year after leading the SDNY Attorney's Office's Money Laundering and Transnational Criminal Enterprises Unit. Bloomberg reported that Adams will be replaced by Michael Khoo and David Lim, both of whom have worked in the task force since its early days. DOJ didn't comment.
China will soon impose export controls on certain unmanned aerial vehicles and related equipment in what is said is an effort to safeguard its national security. The restrictions, effective Spet. 1, will cover certain UAVs and their engines, infrared imaging equipment, radars, lasers, radio communication equipment, jamming equipment and more, China’s Ministry of Commerce announced July 31, according to an unofficial translation. It added that “all other civilian drones that are not included in the control are prohibited from being exported for military purposes.”
The Bureau of Industry and Security chose not to penalize U.S. hardware supplier MaxLinear after it voluntarily disclosed potential export control violations, the company said in a recent SEC filing. MaxLinear said it received a warning letter from BIS June 8 and was informed by BIS that the agency “closed out its review of our voluntary self-disclosure without monetary or other penalties.” MaxLinear disclosed the potential violation last year when it said it may have breached U.S. export licensing requirements by selling to a Chinese foundry on the Entity List (see 2211070014 and 2305020008).
The House Select Committee on China is investigating U.S. investment firms BlackRock and index provider MSCI for their “decisions” that led to Americans investing savings into “dozens of blacklisted Chinese companies,” including entities that contribute to China’s human rights abuses, the committee said this week. In letters to the two firms, committee leaders said their investment-related decisions have resulted in Americans “unwittingly funding” Chinese entities building weapons for the country's military and contributing to the government's goal for “technological supremacy.”