The leaders of the House Select Committee on China urged the Commerce Department Jan. 9 to update its regulations to require U.S. biopharmaceutical entities to obtain an export license before working with a Chinese military hospital for clinical trials.
The U.K. on. Jan. 9 amended the sanctions listing for transportation company Zapchasttrade LLP under its Russia sanctions regime, the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation announced. OFSI updated the company's business regulation number.
The U.K. sanctioned suspected domestic terrorist group Blood and Honour on Jan. 8, the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation announced. OFSI said the group is "facilitating, promoting and encouraging terrorism via its dissemination of music whose content promotes and encourages terrorism" and also generates funds for terrorism through "events it arranges for the purposes of furthering its own terrorist activities." OFSI also said the group conducts "recruitment activities" for terrorism purposes.
The U.K.’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation on Jan. 10 sanctioned major Russian oil producers and exporters Gazprom Neft and Surgutneftegas for operating in Russia’s energy sector. The designations were announced in conjunction with new sanctions issued by the Biden administration last week, U.S. officials said, which targeted a host of companies and vessels helping to move Russian energy products (see 2501100027).
The Office of Foreign Assets Control last week sanctioned several senior Venezuelan officials helping Nicolas Maduro keep control of the country, including Hector Andres Obregon Perez, president of major state-owned oil firm Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A. Others designated include Venezuela’s transportation minister, its lead “legal security” official and several military and police leaders. The designations come after the Maduro regime appeared to alter the results of the country’s presidential elections last year, drawing criticism from the U.S. and others (see 2407290044).
The U.S. announced a host of new sanctions against Russia’s energy sector last week, targeting major Russian oil producers, oil service providers and insurance companies, as well as vessels and traders moving Russian oil as part of the country’s shadow fleet. The Office of Foreign Assets Control also issued two new determinations that authorize sanctions against any person or entity with ties to Russia’s energy sector and that block the provision of U.S. petroleum services to parties in Russia, and it announced it will soon be ending a general license that had authorized certain Russia-related energy payments.
A new Bureau of Industry and Security rule released Jan. 13 will place new, worldwide export controls on advanced computing chips and certain closed artificial intelligence model weights, capping the number of AI chips that can be sent to most countries while introducing an exception for a group of allies that the Biden administration said already have strong AI technology protection rules. The 168-page interim final rule also creates new license exceptions for certain supply chain activities and low-volume shipments of powerful chips -- except for China, Russia and other U.S.-embargoed countries -- and updates the agency’s validated end-user program (VEU) to lift certain licensing requirements for certain data centers that meet stringent new security conditions.
DOJ successfully seized two luxury Miami condominiums with ties to Viktor Perevalov, a Russian national who was sanctioned in 2018 after his construction company helped build a highway in the Russia-occupied Crimea region, the agency announced Jan. 7. Perevalov allegedly used a Miami real estate agent to lease the properties, which DOJ said are worth a combined $1.8 million (see 2402230084).
Canadian national Nikolay Goltsev was sentenced to 40 months in prison for his role in a scheme to ship electronic parts to sanctioned Russian companies (see 2407100008), DOJ announced this week. Attorney General Merrick Garland said DOJ is “sparing no effort to ensure that those who violate America’s export controls to feed Russia’s war machine answer for their crimes in American courtrooms.”
Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., said Jan. 9 that he plans to reintroduce several China-related bills in the coming weeks in the new 119th Congress, including one that would sanction those who fund, sponsor or otherwise facilitate forced organ harvesting or the trafficking of people to remove their organs.