On Wednesday, May 1, 2024, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced that it issued new sanctions on nearly 200 entities and individuals for supporting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, intensifying U.S. efforts to thwart Russia’s attempts to circumvent Western sanctions. The list includes more than a dozen of companies located in China and Hong Kong, as well as entities located in Russia, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Slovakia, Tukey and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).  In addition to OFAC’s sanctions, the Department of State is imposing sanctions on over 80 entities and individuals that are engaged in sanctions evasion or are related to Russia’s chemical and biological weapons programs and military industrial base. 

These designations are reflective of OFAC’s efforts to impose secondary sanctions to deter non-U.S. parties from supporting Russia and its invasion of Ukraine.

OFAC also announced the issuance of three new General Licenses. These include General License 95, “Authorizing Civil Aviation Safety and Wind Down Transactions Involving Limited Liability Company Aviakompaniya Pobeda,” a Russian state-owned airline; General License 96, “Authorizing Limited Safety and Environmental Transactions Involving Certain Blocked Persons or Vessels,”; and General License 97, “Authorizing the Wind Down of Transactions Involving Certain Entities Blocked on May 1, 2024.”