The U.S. this week sanctioned 10 people and two entities involved in Russian government “influence operations,” including state-funded news outlets and their employees.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control published a new alert this week detailing Russian attempts to evade sanctions by opening new overseas branches and subsidiaries.
The House of Representatives plans to vote on several export control-related bills next week, including the Remote Access Security Act, which is designed to close a loophole that has allowed China to use cloud service providers to access advanced U.S. computing chips remotely.
Nazak Nikakhtar, acting head of the Bureau of Industry and Security during the Trump administration, blamed the deep state for a lack of urgency in confronting China, during a podcast interview with China Talk. Nikakhtar did not use that term, but said that it was hard for Commerce Department career officials to shift their thinking from promoting exports of goods to restricting exports or investment. Nikakhtar was previously a civil servant herself, working on antidumping and countervailing duty cases and negotiations with China.
The U.S. on Sept. 2 seized a "Dassault Falcon 900EX aircraft," which is owned and operated to benefit Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and those associated with him, DOJ announced. The plane was seized in the Dominican Republic and sent to Florida related to alleged export control and sanctions violations.
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said Sept. 3 that the Bureau of Industry and Security is failing to stem the flow of U.S.-made advanced computing chips to China and must take additional steps to stop the “semiconductor leakage.”
The U.K. updated the general license under its Russian sanctions regime that authorizes certain imports of Russian diamonds processed in third countries. The license previously only allowed the import of diamonds equal to or larger than one carat that haven't been located in Russia at any time since March 1. The U.K. updated the license to permit the import of diamonds that haven't been located in Russia since Sept. 1 and are smaller than one carat but larger than or equal to one-half carat.
The U.K. added three people and one entity to its Iran sanctions regime Sept. 2, the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation announced. The individuals are Abdolfatah Ahvazian, Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps Commander Hamid Fazeli, and Behnam Shahriyari. IRGC Quds Force Unit 700 was listed for activity meant to "cause the destabilisation of the United Kingdom or any other country," OFSI said.
The Bureau of Industry and Security issued a correction to a June final rule that introduced new export controls and expanded existing restrictions against Russia and Belarus (see 2406120036). The correction fixes a typo.
The State Department is working on a final rule that would amend restrictions against Cyprus under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations. The rule, sent to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs Aug. 29, could build on steps the State Department has taken to relax export restrictions for certain defense goods and services involving the country (see 2309130028).