On March 4, 2025, the US Department of State announced the redesignation of Ansarallah (a political movement and militia group in Yemen also known as the Houthis) as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (“FTO”). The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) separately designated seven high-ranking members of Ansarallah as Specially Designated Nationals (“SDNs”) for smuggling weapons into Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen and negotiating weapons procurement from Russia. In addition, OFAC designated…
On 24 February 2025, the third anniversary of Russia’s further invasion of Ukraine, the UK Government announced 107 new designations targeting individuals, businesses (including several state-owned entities), government officials and vessels in what it labelled its most extensive set of sanctions against Russia since the start of the invasion. According to the UK Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (“FCDO”) press release, this package is aimed at weakening Russia’s military supply chains, revenues fuelling the war…
On December 30, 2024, the US Department of Justice (“DOJ”) issued a Final Rule intended to prevent certain countries from exploiting specific categories of sensitive personal data and government data. The Final Rule will become effective on April 8, 2025 without any further executive or regulatory action needed from the new Trump Administration. The Final Rule represents a novel approach to the national security concerns related to sensitive personal and government data that mixes elements…
On January 14, 2025, President Biden took action towards rescinding Cuba’s designation as a State Sponsor of Terrorism (“SST”) and to remove restrictions on financial transactions with certain Cuban parties by issuing to Congress a Certification of Rescission of Cuba’s Designation as a State Sponsor of Terrorism (“Certification”) and National Security Memorandum 29 (“NSM-29”) revoking a past National Security Presidential Memorandum related to Cuba that had been issued by then-President Trump in June 2017. President…