For the first time in 17 years, the leaders of the world’s wealthiest nations met at a summit without the Russian President this week, owing to the situation in Ukraine. Meeting in Brussels instead of Sochi (Russia), the leaders of the G7 voiced their condemnation of Russia’s continued violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, and called upon them to: recognise the results of the recent elections in Ukraine; withdraw its military forces…
On Tuesday, 20 May 2014, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) in the US Treasury Department announced its second group of “Specially Designated Nationals” (“SDNs”) related to the death of Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky and added 12 Russian individuals to the US SDN List pursuant to the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act of 2012 (“Magnitsky Act”). The first group of SDNs blocked pursuant to the Magnitsky Act was announced by OFAC on…
The EU Council is meeting on Monday, 12 May 2014, to discuss the crisis in Ukraine. After the President of the Council announced [yesterday] that “further steps in destabilizing Ukraine will call for additional sanctions”, the Council stated today that next Monday, it could “broaden the EU’s targeted restrictive measures for actions undermining the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine” (see official press release here). The press is speculating that EU Foreign Ministers have been…
On Thursday, 8 May 2014, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) in the US Treasury Department issued the Ukraine-related Sanctions Regulations, 31 C.F.R. Part 589 (“URSR”), to implement Executive Orders 13660, 13661, and 13662 (“the Orders”). The abbreviated nature of the URSR reflects OFAC’s stated purpose of providing immediate guidance to parties subject to the Orders. OFAC has noted that it intends to provide more comprehensive regulations with additional guidance at a later date.…