Author Archives: Alex Torch

Norway supports new sanctions against Russia

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The Norwegian government has published a statement supporting the EU’s 14th package of sanctions against Russia.

“Russia is not investing in its own future, but is staking everything on a victory on the battlefield. This is having a major impact on Norwegian and European security,” said Minister of Foreign Affairs Espen Barth Eide.

The EU’s latest package of sanctions targets certain sectors of the Russian economy, including energy, finance, and trade. It also includes restrictions on 116 additional individuals and entities, and it significantly strengthens financial sanctions by banning EU banks from using the SPFS messaging system, which is Russia’s equivalent to SWIFT.

Additionally, Norway supports the EU legislation that allows extraordinary revenues generated from immobilised assets of the Central Bank of Russia to be used for supporting Ukraine.

The Central Bank of Norway has no assets, but it is important to support measures introduced by allies that can help Ukraine defend itself, the Norwegian government noted.

Belarus demonstrates military UAV copies of a sanctioned Iranian manufacturer

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A military parade in the capital of Belarus has became the presentation of copies of Iranian military drones.

At the military parade, the audience saw several drones that were transported on Chinese-made pickups. The drones were labeled “Geranium-2” (Герань-2  – Rus.) and “Nomad” (Кочевник – Rus.). Apparently, “Nomad” is the label especially for Belarusian defense department.

Photo: youtube.com/@VoentvBY

“Geran-2” is a Russian military drone, which is made in the likeness of the Iranian drone Shahed 136.
Russia uses Geranium-2 on the territory of Ukraine.

Photo: youtube.com/@VoentvBY

During the parade in Minsk, it was stated that the drone is capable of carrying a warhead weighing up to 52 kilograms, reaching speeds of up to 180 kilometers per hour, and covering distances of up to two thousand kilometers.

In 2022 the EU sanctioned Iranian company Shahed Aviation Industries that produce Shahed drones.

A president of a freight forwarding company has been indicted for smuggling scientific tools from the USA to Russia

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Kirill Gordei, a citizen of Belarus and a permanent resident of the USA, has been accused of smuggling scientific equipment from the US into Russia without permission.

The US Department of Justice claims that Kirill is the president of Apelsin Logistics, a freight forwarder based in Hallandale Beach, Florida, which also has offices in Russia. Evidence on the website HH.Ru shows that the company also has offices in New York and St Petersburg (Russia).

According to the department’s statement, in August 2023, Gordei allegedly claimed that he had shipped an Orbitrap Exploris GC 240 Mass Spectrometer – an item that provides high data quality and versatility for accelerating scientific discovery in academic and industrial research and government laboratories – to Uzbekistan, when in fact it was destined for Russia. Such a supply required a license from the Bureau of Industry and Security for export to Russia, but Gordei did not apply for it.

“By allegedly smuggling sensitive technology to Russia, Mr. Gordei undermined the critical framework established to protect national security,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Joshua S. Levy for the District of Massachusetts.

If convicted, Gordey faces a maximum sentence of five years’ imprisonment for the conspiracy charge, up to 20 years’ prison, five years supervised release, and a $250,000 fine, for the illegal export charge; and up to ten years’ imprisonment, three years supervised release and $25,00, fine for smuggling goods from the US.

US sanctions suspend a project for a coking coal processing plant in Russia

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Severnaya Zvezda LLC, engaged in the project for a coking coal processing plant, revealed in the arbitration court the disappointing consequences of sanctions imposed by the US.

Severnaya Zvezda has been developing the Syradasay coal deposit in the Taimyr Peninsula for several years. The resource of the field is estimated at 5 billion tons and investments in the project amount to 45–50 billion rubles.

The investment portal for the Arctic zone of Russia says that the project to build a concentrating plant on the Syradasy deposit is part of the strategy for socio-economic development in the Arctic and plans to increase cargo flow along the Northern Sea Route up to 80 million tons per year.

Recently, the Moscow Arbitration Court finished considering a case where Severnaya Zvezd appeared as a defendant.

The court documents include consequences of US sanctions against the company.

The document contains the following phrases:

Severnaya Zvezda cannot conclude foreign trade contracts – that is, due to the imposition of sanctions, the company has been deprived of the ability to sell products from the enrichment plant. Purchase (sale) of coking coal concentrate for production and sale turned out to be impossible, both in hostile jurisdictions and friendly jurisdictions, due to risk of secondary sanctions.

Severnaya Zvezda has also been deprived the opportunity to export products from its production site…

In fact, the only way for Severnaya Zvezda LLC to export its products is by transporting them by sea vessels along the Northern Sea Route. However… swimming in the waters of the Northern Sea Route is carried out only with the permission of the Federal State Budgetary Institution Glavsevmorput. In order to obtain the specified permit, it is necessary that the vessel has the appropriate ice class…

However, due to the imposed sanctions, Severnaya Zvezda LLC cannot purchase such vessels abroad. Among other things, Severnaya Zvezda LLC is also deprived of the opportunity to charter (hire) vessels of a suitable ice class suitable for transporting coal.

The EU adopts a 14th package of sanctions on Russia: LPG, the finance system, artists

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The Council of the European Union has adopted today a 14th package of economic and individual restrictive measures on Russian and its allies.

The new sanctions include restrictions on 116 additional individuals and entities (see the full list here).

These include popular propagandists singers Yaroslav Dronov (stage name: Shaman) and Polina Gagarina.

EU has stated that it will ban reloading of Russian LNG services in EU territory to transfer operations to third countries.

In addition, EU has decided to prohibit the use of ‘System for Transfer of Financial Messages’ (SPFS), a specialized financial messaging service developed by the Central Bank of Russia to counteract restrictive measures. Entities operating outside of Russia will not be allowed to connect to SPFS or similar specialized financial services.

Among the sanctioned companies are Sovcomflot, Russia’s largest shipping company specializing in the transportation of liquified gas; the Volga-Dnepr Group and its subsidiaries; the Kadyrov Foundation and the Belarusian Republican Youth Union.

The US has blocked the financial network of Putin’s ally, Milorad Dodik

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The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has decided to impose sanctions onva network of two individuals and seven entities that provide major sources of revenue for U.S.-designated Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik and his family.

In 2023 Milorad Dodik claimed that he is a friend of the Russia’s president Vladimir Putin. In 2024 he visited the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in Russia where he met Putin.

Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik and Vladimir Putin / Photo: kremlin.ru

“Dodik used his official position to direct RS government contracts to a network of private companies that he and Igor (Dodik’s son) oversee. While Igor controls many of the companies in this network, he obfuscates his personal connection to the companies by relying on distinct nominal owners and directors. Infinity International Group d.o.o. Banja Luka (Infinity) is a holding company in BiH that directly or indirectly owns or is the majority owner of at least five other BiH-based companies: Prointer ITSS d.o.o. Banja Luka Clan Infinity International Group (Prointer), Kaldera Company El PGP d.o.o. (Kaldera), Infinity Media d.o.o. (Infinity Media), K-2 Audio Services Banja Luka d.o.o. (K-2), and Una World Network d.o.o. (Una),” noted OFAC.

Additionally, Sirius 2010 d.o.o. Banja Luka (Sirius) is an information technology (IT) company that operates within the Dodik family network. Along with Prointer and Kaldera, Sirius is well-known in BiH for being awarded lucrative government contracts. Together, Prointer and Sirius provide IT goods and services to organizations across the RS and BiH governments, while Kaldera primarily operates in the engineering sector.

Poland has imposed sanctions on two companies due to their ties with Russia

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The Ministry of the Interior and Administration of the Republic of Poland added two companies to its sanctions list for their ties with Russian companies.

Sanctions were imposed on Reiven Technologies Polska Sp. z o.o and RS PRO Sp. z O.O. Both companies are based in Warsaw.

According to a statement from the Polish Ministry of Interior, PRO Sp. Z O. was exporting goods included in a list of dual-use and high-technology products used by Russian military systems in 2023. The company did so through partners in Azerbaijan and Hong Kong.

“The Azerbaijani company is associated with PSS Corporation, a Russian company,” the Polish government said.
Russian PSS Corp. is involved in industrial safety for facilities in the oil and gas industry, shipbuilding, maritime infrastructure, and underwater mining complexes.

The second company under sanctions, Reiven Technologies, supplied goods to Russia via China and Kazakhstan. The importer was a Russian company headquartered in St. Petersburg.

Canada imposes additional sanctions on Russia

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Canada has imposed additional sanctions on Russia. The Government of Canada has claimed that the sanctions are directed against individuals and legal entities involved in operations on disinformation and propaganda.

In addition, the sanctions aim to organizations involved in circumventing sanctions that facilitate Russia’s access to sanctioned goods and a ban on the export of numerical control machines that Russia can use for weapon production.

Ekaterina Mizulina and Alexander Malkevich / Photo: oprf.ru

The sanctions list includes Ekaterina Mizulina, head of the Safe Internet League; Alexander Malkevich, member of the Public Chamber of Russia; Aram Gabrelyanov, media manager; Pobeda Airlines; TV channels Saint Petersburg, Tavria TV, Mariupol 24, and Rossiyskaya Gazeta.

These individuals and entities have been added to the sanctions list:

  • Evgeny Andreevich SHESTAKOV (born in 1969) (also known as Eugeniy Andreevich SHESTAKOV)
  • Alexander Alexandrovich MALKEVICH (born on June 14, 1975) (also known as Aleksandr Aleksandrovich MAL’KEVICH and Alexandr Aleksandrovich MAL’KEVICH)
  • Yulia Fyodorvna SHAMAL (born on June 5, 1977) (also known as Julia Fedorovna SHAMAL)
  • Maksim Anatolyevich SHUGALEY (born on February 24, 1966) (also known as Maxim Anatolyevich SHUGALEI)
  • Alexander Gennadyevich SIDYAKIN (born on November 17, 1977) (also known as Aleksander Gennadievich SIDYAKIN)
  • Anton Andreevich ALIKHANOV (born on September 17, 1986)
  • Boris Vsevolodovich GROMOV (born on November 7, 1943)
  • Ekaterina Mikhailovna MIZULINA (born on September 1, 1984) (also known as Yekaterina Mihailovna MIZULINA)
  • Veronika Yuryevna KRASHENINNIKOVA (born on October 12, 1971)
  • Alexandra Vladimirovna KOSTERINA (born on February 26, 1980) (also known as Aleksandra Vladimirovna KOSHARNITSKAYA)
  • Aram Ashotovich GABRELYANOV(born on August 10, 1961)
  • SEVERTRUCKS LLC
  • Electroagregat JSC
  • Research and Development Association “Electromashina”, SC
  • Electroavtomatika JSC
  • Elecond JSC
  • Novorossiysk Shipping Company (also known as Novorossiysk Shipping Company, PAO or PJSC “Novoship” or “Novoship”)
  • Pobeda LLC (also known as Pobeda Airlines)
  • Russian National Reinsurance Company JSC (also known as RNRC or RNPK).

The UK tightens sanctions against Russia

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The UK has announced new sanctions on Russia, adding about 50 companies and individuals to the sanctions list.
According to the government’s statement, new sanctions target suppliers of munitions, machine tools, microelectronics, and logistics for Russia’s military, including entities based in China, Israel, Kyrgyzstan, and Türkiye.

They also crack down on institutions at the heart of Russia’s financial system, including the Moscow Stock Exchange.

Well-known Russian businessmen have been sanctioned, including Ivan Tavrin, founder of Kismet Capital Group, which provides equipment for mobile operators, and Armen Meruzhanovich Sargsyan, founder and owner of S8 Capital, the multidisciplinary holding which owns Russian tire factories.

Sanctions have also been imposed on NAMI, Russia’s leading scientific organization in automotive industry development.

The United States hits the ruble exchange rate

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The U.S. Department of the Treasury has announced new sanctions on Russia. These sanctions could cause the ruble to fall.

“Today’s actions strike at their remaining avenues for international materials and equipment, including their reliance on critical supplies from third countries. We are increasing the risk for financial institutions dealing with Russia’s war economy and eliminating paths for evasion, and diminishing Russia’s ability to benefit from access to foreign technology, equipment, software, and IT services. Every day, Russia continues to mortgage its future to sustain its unjust war of choice against Ukraine,” said Secretary of the Treasury Janet L. Yellen.

Janet L. Yellen / The U.S. Department of the Treasury

Treasury has targeted the architecture of Russia’s financial system.

The US has imposed sanctions on Moscow Exchange (MOEX), which operates Russia’s largest public stock, fixed-income, foreign exchange, and money markets

.After the imposition of sanctions, the Moscow Exchange is unable to form the exchange rate of the ruble against the dollar and the euro.

The Central Bank of Russia has already issued a statement reassuring Russians. The bank claims that transactions with US dollars and euros will continue to be conducted on the over-the-counter market and, to determine the official exchange rates for US dollars and euro against rubles, the bank will use bank statements and information obtained from digital platforms for over-the counter trading. Companies and individuals can also continue buying and selling US dollars and Euros through Russian banks.