China's President Xi Jinping criticized global sanctions in a June 22 speech at the opening ceremony of the BRICS Business Forum, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said, according to an unofficial translation of a press release. Appearing virtually, Xi said sanctions are a "boomerang" and a "double-edged sword" that politicize and weaponize the global economy to impose "arbitrary" restrictions that ultimately harm others. BRICS member states are Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
The State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls reminded industry that its Defense Export Control and Compliance System registration and licensing applications will be unavailable due to a system upgrade (see 2206140014). The application will be down from 2 p.m. EDT June 24 through 8 a.m. EDT June 27 as the agency releases its updated Licensing 2.0 application.
Congress should ensure existing and new trade agreements promote “responsible” collaboration in emerging technologies, including through targeted export controls, said Charles Robinson, an IBM quantum computing executive. In June 22 testimony to the Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection, and Innovation Subcommittee of the House Homeland Security Committee, Robinson said lawmakers should “support the tailoring of export controls” to keep sensitive technologies “out of the hands of nefarious actors.” He specifically mentioned quantum technologies, which are particularly sensitive and “present possible dual-use concerns.” Industry groups and companies have urged Commerce to avoid broad, unilateral controls on quantum technologies and other emerging technologies, which they say could stifle U.S. competitiveness and innovation (see 2204140033, 2205100022 and 2202180013).
The U.K. updated its guidance on the sanctions relating to the provision of insurance and reinsurance services over aviation and space goods and technology to a person or entity connected with Russia or for use in Russia. The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation said that the restrictions "would not apply where the insurance is for the benefit of the non-Russian owner of the items, rather than their user or operator. It also doesn't apply where the items either remain in Russia as the result of the termination of a lease and against the lessor’s will or are flown out of Russia in the process of returning them to their owner.
The Financial Action Task Force recently updated its list of jurisdictions with “deficiencies” in combating terrorism financing, weapons proliferation and other sanctions-related issues, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network said June 23. The FATF removed Malta from the list of jurisdictions under increased monitoring and added Gibraltar. It didn’t make any changes to its list of “High-Risk Jurisdictions Subject to a Call for Action,” which includes countries subject to “extensive” U.S. sanctions, such as North Korea and Iran.
DOJ plans to expand its work with Ukraine to help it combat Russia sanctions evasion, the agency said this week. The agency will specifically send Ukraine an “expert” DOJ prosecutor to “advise on fighting kleptocracy, corruption, and money laundering” and will deploy two additional attorneys from the Office of International Affairs to support the department’s KleptoCapture Task Force. The lawyers will work “closely” with their EU counterparts and Middle Eastern countries to “facilitate mutual legal assistance and extraditions relating to Russian illicit finance and sanctions evasion, including with respect to designated Russian oligarchs who have supported the Russian regime and its efforts to undermine Ukrainian sovereignty,” DOJ said.
The U.K.'s Export Control Joint Unit on June 23 introduced new export restrictions against Russia. The restrictions prohibit the "export, supply and delivery, making available and transfer" of goods and technology used for internal repression, relating to biological and chemical weapons and maritime, as well as additional oil refining and critical industry. Further restrictions include bans on the export of jet fuel and fuel additives, sterling or EU-denominated banknotes and prohibitions on the import, acquisition or supply and delivery of revenue-generating goods that originate in or are consigned from Russia.
The Bureau of Industry and Security on June 24 suspended the export privileges of three Russian airlines for violating U.S. export controls against Belarus. The agency issued 180-day temporary denial orders for Nordwind Airlines, Pobeda Airlines and Siberian Airlines, BIS said, banning all three airlines from participating in transactions subject to the Export Administration Regulations.
There isn’t a “coherent” strategy among the various bills in Congress to address international technology competition, said Jon Bateman, a technology policy expert with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Bateman, speaking during a June 23 event hosted by Foreign Policy magazine, said the lack of coherence isn’t “altogether surprising, partly because the government is “classically plagued with coherence problems.”
Lithuania barred transport of EU-sanctioned goods via rail lines through its land to the Russian region of Kaliningrad, The Washington Post reported. The Russian government said June 21 that Lithuania would face "serious" consequences for the move. The Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said June 20 that the transit of passengers and goods not covered by EU sanctions will continue uninterrupted. The Foreign Ministry pointed to the fourth package of EU sanctions to discuss the trade that had been halted between Lithuania and Kaliningrad -- a Russian area that houses Moscow's Baltic Sea Fleet but has no land connection to the rest of the country -- and that includes steel and other ferrous metal products.