On March 2, 2021, the US Government imposed a series of new measures against Russian Government officials and entities in response to the alleged poisoning and subsequent imprisonment of Russian opposition politician Aleksey Navalny. Specifically, the US State Department (“State”) imposed a number of financial sanctions and export restrictions on Russia; the Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) within the US Treasury Department designated seven Russian officials to the List of Specially Designated Nationals and…
On February 16, 2021, the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) removed Ansarallah, a political movement and militia group in Yemen also known as the Houthis, from the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List (“SDN List”). Ansarallah had been added to the SDN List on January 19, 2021, as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (“FTO”) and Specially Designated Global Terrorist (“SDGT”). As a result of the removal, US Persons no longer require…
On January 14, 2021, the US Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) amended the Export Administration Regulations (“EAR”) to remove Sudan’s designation as a State Sponsor of Terrorism (“SST”) (the “Amendments”). The Amendments implement the rescission of Sudan as an SST as announced by the Trump Administration in December 2020 by removing Anti-Terrorism (AT) and related controls on Sudan, which had remained in force following the US Government’s revocation of comprehensive sanctions in…
On January 27, 2021, the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) issued General License 1A, “Authorizing Transactions Involving Securities of Certain Communist Chinese Military Companies,” (“GL 1A”) in relation to OFAC’s Communist Chinese Military Companies (“CCMCs”) sanctions program as implemented pursuant to Executive Order 13959 (“EO 13959”) and amended by Executive Order 13974. OFAC concurrently published frequently asked questions (“FAQs”) 878 and 879, which clarify OFAC’s previous guidance on subsidiary entities with…