Monday, January 27
Over the weekend, the United States Department of State imposed travel restrictions, a type of sanctions, against "individuals and their families, who were responsible for the interference of U.S. repatriation flight operations." It is not clear to me whether those restrictions are in place since the Colombian president accepted the flight after refusing it earlier and the fact that the relevant press release states "[m]easures will continue until Colombia meets its obligations to accept the return of its own citizens." (Here)
The EU Council reached the political agreement to begin easing sanctions on Syria. More to come on that but for now, it seems that there will be an "step-for-step" roadmap on how EU would ease its sanctions against Syria. (Here)
The EU Council imposed asset freezing sanctions against three individuals under the EU's cyber sanctions regime for carrying out cyber attacks against Estonia. (Decision, and press release)
The EU Council extended its sanctions regime against Tunisia until 31 January 2026. (Decision)
The EU Council, also, renewed one of its decisions that created its sanctions regime against Russia in view of the Russian Federation’s continuing actions destabilizing the situation in Ukraine for a another 6 months, until 31 July 2025. (Decision, and press release)
The UK imposed asset freezing sanctions against 6 individuals and 3 entities in response to rigged presidential election in Belarus. (Notice, and press release)
Tuesday, January 28
There were no major developments on this day.
Wednesday, January 29
France imposed asset freezing sanctions against two individuals under France autonomous counter-terrorism sanctions regime. (Here)
In an AML-related development, following the revocation E.O. 14115, “Imposing Certain Sanctions on Persons Undermining Peace, Security, and Stability in the West Bank,” FinCEN rescinded its two Alerts on Israeli Extremist Settler Violence Against Palestinians in the West Bank, published on February 1, 2024 and July 11, 2024, respectively. As such, FinCEN is no longer requesting that financial institutions file suspicious activity reports with the key term “FIN-2024-WBEXTREMISM.”
Thursday, January 30
The EU Council slightly amended its list of terrorists by removing one name. The Council also changed the validity of its autonomous terrorists list from one to two years. The latest list will be valid until 22 February 2027. (Decision on validity, Decision on the list, and press release)
Friday, January 31
The United States restored its "tough on Cuba" policy by:
Keeping Cuba on the State Sponsor of Terrorism List (reversing the last minute attempt of the previous administration to remove Cuba from the list);
Re-creation of the Cuba Restricted List;
Adding Orbit, S.A., a remittance-processing company operating for or on behalf of the Cuban military; and
Continuing to to allow the U.S. persons to bring private actions involving trafficked property confiscated by the Cuban regime. (Here)
Recommendation for the week
Don't miss this story from the Journal about how Russia attempted to evade the U.S. sanctions by using funds that were supposedly dedicated to a project in Türkiye: Exclusive | Moscow Has $2 Billion Stuck at JPMorgan. The U.S. Isn’t Sure What to Do With It. - WSJ
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