As anticipated in our earlier blog entry, on September 17, 2014, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) implemented new restrictions on the export, reexport and transfer (including in-country transfer) of items subject to the Export Administration Regulations (“EAR”) to certain major Russian energy and defense sector companies by adding those companies to the Entity List. BIS also has amended the EAR to impose licensing requirements on the export, reexport, and…

On Friday, September 12, 2014, the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) expanded Ukraine-related sanctions by taking several actions to broaden the scope of US “sectoral” sanctions issued pursuant to Executive Order 13662 to cover the Russian defense sector and additional parties and activities in the Russian energy sector and by designating 5 Russian defense companies as Specially Designated Nationals (“SDNs”). On the same day, the US Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry…

On Thursday, September 11, 2014, the White House released a statement that the US Government intends to increase US sanctions targeting Russia in conjunction with similar plans announced by the European Union. The statement does not provide details about the planned increased US sanctions beyond saying that the US Government “will deepen and broaden sanctions in Russia’s financial, energy, and defense sectors. These measures will increase Russia’s political isolation as well as the economic costs…