Following reports in August (see blog post here), on 6 September, the UK government formally announced the proscription of the Wagner Group. Parliament has passed an order, presented by the Home Secretary, to proscribe the Wagner Group under the Terrorism Act 2000. On 15 September, the order came into force, making it a criminal offence to belong to, encourage support for, assist or use the logo of the Wagner Group. Furthermore, the Wagner Group’s assets…
On 22 August, it was reported that the UK Government is considering the proscription of the Wagner group as a terrorist organisation under the Terrorism Act 2000. The Wagner group is a collection of individuals and entities globally making up the ‘Wagner Network’, which is engaged in military, economic, political, and influencing operations. They are known for being a private military company. Proscribing Wagner as a terrorist organisation would put it in the same legal…
On 11 August 2023, the UK Department for Business and Trade issued the Legal Advisory Services General Trade Licence (the “General Licence”) which came into force immediately. The General Licence was issued following the amendments to the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (the “UK Russia Regulations”) earlier in June (the “Amending Regulation”) which introduced certain restrictions to the provision of legal advisory services concerning sanctions against Russia. As summarised in our previous blog on…
The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) plays a key role in monitoring how UK-regulated financial institutions guard against financial crime risks, and how effectively they implement financial crime policies and procedures. In recent months, as the UK and other governments have placed increasing focus on preventing the circumvention of sanctions targeting Russia, the FCA has taken a number of steps to emphasise its focus on how financial institutions are complying with financial and trade sanctions,…