On December 22, 2015, the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) announced that it had added 34 parties (i.e., 12 individuals and 22 entities) to the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List (“SDN List”) and 86 entities to the Sectoral Sanctions Identifications List (“SSI List”) under the US Government’s Russia/Ukraine-related Sanctions Program. In a press release, OFAC stated that these designations are part of its continued efforts to counter attempts to circumvent US Russia/Ukraine-related sanctions, to further align US sanctions…
The Council of the European Union has announced today, on 21 December 2015, that the EU is formally extending their economic sanctions against Russia until 31 July 2016. The EU has previously linked the duration of their sanctions to the complete implementation of the Minsk Agreements, which was expected to take place by 31 December 2015. According to the Council’s press release, the extension of the current sanctions is to enable the Council to continue their…
On December 7, 2015, the Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) issued a six-month general license (“General License 20”) to allow certain transactions otherwise prohibited by the Burmese Sanctions Regulations (“BSR”) that are incidental to permissible exports to or from Burma. OFAC’s statement on the issuance of General License 20, which was issued to support US and Burmese exporters and to facilitate trade with Burma, is available here. General License 20 authorizes all transactions until…
The UK Foreign Affairs Committee has launched an inquiry into the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO)’s policy towards Russia and the broader UK-Russian bilateral relationship. As part of this, the Committee is inviting written submissions by Friday 29 January 2016 on the issues listed below. The current state of UK-Russia bilateral relations, and the FCO’s recent record in managing this relationship. Russia’s increasingly assertive foreign policy, including in: Russia’s self-defined “near abroad”, including Ukraine;the rest of…