U.S., EU, Canada and Australia Take Coordinated Action Targeting Russia as Congress Considers Further Sanctions
Last week, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”), the EU Council, and Canada imposed further sanctions targeting Russian individuals and entities allegedly involved in the escalation of tensions between Russia and Ukraine in the Kerch Strait and the Sea of Azov last November. Australia imposed similar measures on March 18, 2019. In addition, the U.S. imposed sanctions on a Russian-controlled bank which it accused of being used to support the Maduro regime in Venezuela.
These moves come against the backdrop of the recent re-introduction of a bipartisan bill in the Senate seeking to impose tougher sanctions against Russia, Congressional criticism over the Administration’s recent lifting of sanctions on the aluminum company Rusal and EN+, delays in implementing a second tranche of mandated sanctions against Russia under the Chemical and Biological Weapons Act (“CBW Act”), and the looming specter of the Mueller investigation into Russian intervention in the 2016 election. Given the continued pattern of escalation against Russia, companies should be alert to the possibility of new sanctions being imposed in the near future.