Jacob Kopnick

Sergey Nefedov of Anchorage and Mark Shumovich of Bellevue, Washington, were charged June 11 with conducting a scheme to illegally export nearly $500,000 worth of snowmobilers and associated parts from the U.S. to Russia, DOJ announced.

The EU General Court on June 12 rejected Russian investment fund VEB.RF's application to be removed from the bloc's Russia sanctions regime, according to an unofficial translation. The European Council sanctioned the financial institution for helping undermine the territorial sovereignty of Ukraine and providing material support to "Russian decision-makers responsible for the annexation of Crimea or the destabilization of Eastern Ukraine."

World Trade Organization Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala met with the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev on June 5-6 to discuss the nation's accession to the WTO, the trade body said.

Chinese citizen Zhenyu "Bill" Wang and Texas resident Daniel Ray Lane were sentenced to 45 months in prison for trying to violate U.S. sanctions and commit money laundering as part of a scheme to "transact in sanctioned petroleum and launder the proceeds," DOJ announced.

The European Commission on June 12 provisionally set countervailing duties on Chinese electric vehicles, though there could still be changes before the provisional rates are posted, no later than July 4. The day after the publication, importers would need a guarantee to cover the amount of duties, but the duties themselves would not be collected until the definitive duties are set, which could be as much as four months later. If a majority of countries in the EU vote against the duties, they wouldn't be levied.

Matt Lapin, former partner at Porter Wright, has joined Wiley Rein as special counsel in the international trade and national security practice groups, the firm announced. Lapin's practice centers on "supply chain risk, export controls, economic sanctions, customs law, foreign investment, and anti-corruption," the firm said.

The European Commission on June 10 opened a foreign subsidies investigation on the Emirates Telecommunications Group Company's (e&'s) sole control of PPF Telecom Group B.V., "excluding its Czech business." The commission said that it has "preliminary concerns" that e&, a state-controlled telecommunications firm, "may have been granted foreign subsidies that could distort the EU internal market." The investigation was opened under the Foreign Subsidies Regulation and will look at "actual or potential negative effects on the acquisition process" and whether the foreign subsidies "lead to actual or potential negative effects in the internal market."

The World Trade Organization on June 7 said it upgraded its "e-GPA Gateway," its online platform on trade and government procurement, to provide "more user-friendly access to information" related to parties to the Agreement on Government Procurement 2012. The platform now includes a "tool to browse each party's market access commitments," reporting tools on the "thresholds set by each GPA party above which public contracts can be granted," an advanced search engine allowing searches of specific parties and products, a tool to search for "modifications of coverage," and greater access to data on current procurement opportunities.

Dimitry Timashev, a dual U.S. and Russian citizen, pleaded guilty on June 7 to illegally exporting firearm parts and ammunition to Russia, DOJ announced.

The U.K. last week updated the listing for International Gateways Group of Company Limited under its Myanmar sanctions regime. The listing changed the name of the firm from International Gateways Group of Companies to International Gateways Group of Company and the address of the entity. The U.K. also said the company has been involved in the "repression of the civilian population in Myanmar" and the "commission of serious human rights violations" in the nation.