The U.K.'s prohibition on the maritime transport of refined oil products from Russia and the provision of related services came into force Feb. 5, along with $100 and $45 price cap exceptions for oil products traded at a premium to crude and at a discount to crude, respectively. The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation concurrently issued an updated guidance on the ban and oil price cap, which covers an overview of the ban, compliance and enforcement, exceptions and licensing, attestation with example scenarios, reporting requirements, definitions and examples of where the ban will not apply.
The U.K. Commercial Court released a judgment in a case concerning vessels financed by the Russian transport ministry. The proceeding deals with a Cypriot charterer, Garvelor, which claimed specific performance of obligations it was owed under a bareboat charterparty by the vessel owners -- subsidiaries of sanctioned company GTLK. The subsidiaries provided for Gravelor to make payments for the vessels and for the title of the vessels to be transferred to them when the charterparty was terminated. However, sanctions made it illegal for Gravelor to pay the subsidiaries in U.S. dollars, which the charterparties required. The Commercial Court held that tendering payment in euros to a frozen account filled the contractual obligation to pay, granting an order to transfer the title of the vessels to Gravelor after considering the sanctions impact.
Russian customs data shows the country’s sanctioned defense companies are buying navigation equipment, jamming technology, jet-fighter parts and more from China, The Wall Street Journal reported Feb. 4. Russia has imported tens of thousands of shipments of dual-use goods since its invasion of Ukraine last year, most of them from China, the report said. Although the U.S. and other Western nations have imposed strict export controls on technology to stop sensitive items from being sent to Russia, Moscow is able to sustain its military needs through countries that haven’t joined the U.S.-led sanctions effort, the report said, including Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. But Chinese companies are the “dominant exporters” of dual-use items to Russia, the report said.
The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission this week released an updated timeline of China’s position on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, outlining a list of “key actions and statements” summarizing China’s official stance on the war. The timeline also includes U.S. sanctions actions to penalize Chinese companies for supporting Russia's defense industrial base.
The Commerce Department plans to respond to Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., about his letter last week urging the agency to reject an export license application for firearms to Azerbaijan (see 2302030029), a Commerce spokesperson said. The spokesperson declined to say whether the agency is considering approving the license but said applications are generally also reviewed by the Defense and State departments to “ensure that potential exports are consistent with national security and foreign policy interests which include, among other considerations, human rights concerns.” This review “continually assesses proposed end users of firearms exports through public and classified information, utilizes a variety of tools to monitor exports, and has a robust administrative and criminal enforcement program to impose penalties for violations of export control requirements for firearms exports,” the spokesperson said.
In West Virginia, where the first House Ways and Means Committee hearing of the new Congress was held since the Republicans won the majority, the members asked questions of business owners, and were hosted by a mid-sized business that sells hardwood lumber to furniture makers, cabinetmakers and flooring manufacturers.
Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky., introduced a bill this month that could impose new sanctions on Chinese military companies and surveillance companies with ties to the Chinese government. The bill, which could impose financial sanctions on companies subject to certain U.S. investment restrictions (see 2106030067), was referred to the House Foreign Affairs and Financial Services committees. Barr introduced similar legislation in 2021 that would have required the U.S. to sanction entities included on the Defense Department’s annual listing of Chinese military companies.
Canada last week announced another set of sanctions against Russia, targeting 38 people and 16 entities involved in “peddling Russian disinformation and propaganda.” Among the designations are state-owned media company MIA Rossiya Segodnya and Nikolay Victorovich Baskov, a popular singer and TV host.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control updated its Russian price cap guidance last week to include information on the recently imposed cap on Russian petroleum products. The measure -- which took effect 12:01 a.m. EST on Feb. 5 -- sets a $45 per barrel cap for petroleum products that trade at a discount to crude, such as naphtha and waste oils, and a $100 per barrel cap on products that trade at a premium to crude, such as motor fuel.
DOJ’s new corporate enforcement policies substantially increase compliance incentives and may lead to more voluntary self-disclosures, law firms said. But they also said much of the new policy will depend on how DOJ implements the changes, and it remains unclear how much of a downstream impact the revisions will have on export control and sanctions cases handled by other agencies.