On December 15, 2022, the United States Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) added Public Joint Stock Company Rosbank (“Rosbank”) and 17 subsidiaries of VTB Bank Public Joint Stock Company (“VTB Bank”) to the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List (“SDN List”). The United States Department of State (“State Department”) designated Vladimir Potanin, three members of his family, and his company Interros, pursuant to Executive Order 14024, with the result…
On September 30, 2022, the US Government imposed additional sanctions against Russia in response to Russia’s annexation of the Ukrainian provinces of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk, and Zaporizhzhya following referenda. New SDN Designations and OFAC FAQ The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) announced hundreds of new Russia-related designations to the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List (“SDN List”). According to an accompanying press release, the designations include 14 individuals…
On September 15, 2022, the US Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) issued a final rule (the “Final Rule”) to expand the existing sanctions against Russia and Belarus under the Export Administration Regulations (“EAR”). The purpose of the Final Rule is to “protect U.S. national security and foreign policy interests by further restricting Russia’s access to items that it needs to support its military capabilities.” The Final Rule took effect on September…
On August 18, 2022, the US Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) issued new FAQs addressing (i) certain red flags related to compliance concerns and potential evasion of the Russia- and Belarus-related export controls and sanctions, and (ii) key red flags that semiconductor foundries should consider when potentially dealing with parties on the Entity List. We summarize key points from these new FAQs below, the full text of which are available here and here. …