Monday, March 6
The UK's the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation updated its UK Maritime Services Prohibition and Oil Price Cap guidance to include the recent expansion of the restrictions to Russian petroleum products. (Here)
The U.S. Department of State imposed travel restrictions on an officer in the Syrian Military Intelligence Directorate and his immediate family members pursuant to Section 7031(c) of the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2023 due to his involvement in gross violations of human rights, namely extrajudicial killings. (Here) Interestingly, this individual has only been sanctioned by the UK under its Syria sanctions regime.
Tuesday, March 7
A day before International Women's Day, the EU Council imposed asset-freeze sanctions on nine individuals and three entities for their role in committing serious human rights violations and abuses, particularly sexual and gender-based violence. (Council Decision, press release)
Wednesday, March 8
On International Women’s Day, the UK imposed asset-freeze sanctions on four individuals and an entity for their roles in gender-based violence in Iran, Syria, South Sudan, and the Central African Republic. (Press release)
OFAC imposed asset-freeze sanctions on eight individuals and three entities in Iran for their role in surpassing the women and violating human rights. (Here, the Department of the Treasury press release, the Department of State press release)
OFAC imposed blocking sanctions on three entities and two individuals under its North Korea sanctions program. (Here, the Department of the Treasury press release, the Department of State press release)
FinCEN is soliciting comments regarding the special measures taken under Section 311 of the USA PATRIOT Act with respect to Iran, as a jurisdiction of primary money laundering concern, and the Commercial Bank of Syria, including its subsidiary Syrian Lebanese Commercial Bank, as a financial institution of primary money laundering concern.
An individual who was sanctioned by the French government on Sept. 7th, 2022, was delisted after its 6-month period of designation came to an end without being extended.
Following the Baiterek National Managing Holding's acquisition of Sberbank Kazakhstan, previously owned by Sberbank Russia, OFAC took Sberbank Kazakhstan off its SDN and SSI list. (Here, the initial announcement of the deal)
Thursday, March 9
The Security Council Committee in charge of the UN's sanctions against Iraq removed two entries from its sanctions list. (Here)
The UK announced that it alone has frozen more than £18 billion in Russian assets. (Here) This announcement came at the same time as a Global Advisory published by Russian Elites, Proxies, and Oligarchs (REPO) Task Force which includes Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Commission. (Here) The Global Advisory listed a number of typologies of Russian sanctions evasion and provided a couple of recommendations for the "regulated entities."
OFAC imposed two tranches of asset-freeze sanctions related to Iran. The first one was against a network of five companies and one individual, all located in China, for supporting Iran’s unmanned aerial vehicle procurement efforts. (Here, the Department of the Treasury press release, the Department of State press release) The second tranche was against a complex web of sanctions evasion which includes more than dozens of entities involved in selling Iranian oil, petrochemicals, and petroleum. (Here, the Department of the Treasury press release)
Do you remember INSTEX? Well, it's officially over! The INSTEX shareholders – Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and the UK – have decided to liquidate INSTEX. (The French government announcement)
Friday, March 10
There was no major development on this day.
The Recommendation of the Week
There has been a lot of talk about whether sanctions against Russia are "working" or not. This article has some interesting points: ‘Sanctions Do Not Work’: Russian Disinformation Narratives About Sanctions in the EU, Ukraine, and Russia Itself.