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Ben Smith (UK)

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On June 23, 2026, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) and HM Treasury’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (“OFSI”) published a joint statement reflecting on their latest Enhanced Partnership exchange and issued a new joint guidance document that provides a comparative overview of the US and UK sanctions regimes. The joint statement and guidance follow a January 2026 in-person meeting between OFSI and OFAC. The statement and accompanying guidance…

On 16 June 2026, the UK announced a new package of sanctions under its Russian sanctions regime. The package targets Russia’s shadow fleet, financial networks, military procurement channels, and broader support infrastructure. In total, 70 individuals and entities have been designated under the new package. The sections below summarise the key elements of the package. New sanctions targeting Russia’s shadow fleet and maritime evasion A central focus of the new measures is Russia’s “shadow fleet”,…

On 19 May 2026, the UK Government published the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) (Amendment) Regulations 2026 (SI 2026/543) (the “Amendment Regulations”), introducing numerous amendments to the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (the “Regulations”). The Amendment Regulations introduce certain new trade prohibitions and expand existing controls across the Russia sanctions regime. The Amendment Regulations come into force on 20 May 2026 and, in short, include: Supplementing this, the Office of Trade Sanctions Implementation (“OTSI”) issued…

The UK Government has introduced the Sanctions (EU Exit) (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2026 (the “Regulations”), which will come into force on 12 May 2026 (see here). The Regulations introduce Sanctions End-Use Controls (“SEUC”), a new licensing requirement which the UK Government can use to impose licensing requirements on exports where it considers there is a high risk of the goods or related technology being diverted to a sanctioned person or destination. What are Sanctions End‑Use…