On March 11, 2022, the OFAC issued a new round of sanctions targeting Russian and Kremlin elites, oligarchs, and Russia’s political and national security leaders who have supported Russian President Vladimir Putin’s brutal and illegal invasion of Ukraine. The OFAC designated regime elites and business executives who are associates and facilitators of the Russian regime, including three immediate family members of President Putin’s spokesperson, Dmitriy Sergeevich Peskov; Russian tycoon and Kremlin insider Viktor Vekselberg; and the Management Board of the sanctioned VTB Bank. Additionally, the OFAC designated 12 members of the Russian State Duma, including Vyacheslav Victorovich Volodin, who is also a permanent member of Russia’s Security Council.
As a result, all assets of the said individuals located in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons have been blocked and must be reported to OFAC. Additionally, entities that are owned, directly or indirectly, 50 percent or more by one or more blocked persons are also blocked. Unless authorized or exempted by OFAC, any transactions by U.S. persons or within the United States involving the property or interests in the property of designated or blocked persons are also prohibited.
The OFAC also issued Ukraine-related General License (GL) 23, pursuant to E.O. 14065, to authorize certain transactions that are ordinarily incident and necessary to nongovernmental organizations’ activities in the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) or Luhansk People’s Republic (LNR) regions of Ukraine, including activities related to humanitarian projects to meet basic human needs, democracy building, education, non-commercial developments projects, and environmental and natural resource protection.
Moreover, the OFAC issued a new public guidance to cut off avenues for potential Russian sanctions evasion, in line with the G7 leaders' commitment to maintain the impact of economic measures.
See the Treasury’s press release here.