The last week has seen a further flurry of Russian sanctions activity, with both the UK and the EU introducing new restrictions. In this briefing we summarise the new UK restrictions, in particular the additional restrictions on the provision of services to Russia, and the EU's ninth Russia sanctions package. Read more

On 7 December, the European Commission announced proposals for a ninth sanctions package against Russia. The measures are not yet in force and full details are not yet available, but we have summarised below the areas intended to be covered by the new package, along with a round-up of other UK and EU Russia sanctions developments. Read more

On November 22, 2022, the U.S. Office of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) released a Determination pursuant to Executive Order 14071, “Prohibiting New Investment in and Certain Services to the Russian Federation in Response to Continued Russian Federation Aggression.” The Determination states that E.O. 14071 will apply to trading and commodities brokering, financing, shipping, insurance, flagging, and customs brokering (the “Covered Services”) related to “the maritime transport of crude oil” originating in the Russian Federation (“Russia”). Read more

The UK introduced further sanctions against Russia on 4 November 2022, via the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) (Amendment) (No. 16) Regulations 2022 (the "No. 16 Regulations"). These introduce further amendments to the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (the "Russia Regulations"). The amendments introduced by the No. 16 Regulations will come into force on 5 December 2022 (although, as set out below, certain specific measures will not take effect until February 2023) and introduce further measures relating to Russian oil, as discussed further in this briefing. Read more

New UK Russia sanctions legislation was published on 28 October: the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) (Amendment) (No. 15) Regulations 2022 (the "No. 15 Regulations"). These amend the UK's principal Russia sanctions legislation: the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (the "Russia Regulations"). This briefing summarises the key amendments to the Russia Regulations, the majority of which came into force on 29 October. Read more

On 6 October, the EU agreed its eighth Russia sanctions package (initial details of which were set out in our previous blogpost). The Commission and the Council have both issued press releases in connection with the new measures and the Commission has also published a Q&A on the new measures. Read more

On 30 September, Foreign Secretary James Cleverly announced the imposition of a round of new UK sanctions against Russia. Full details of the new measures had not been published at the time of writing, but we set out a summary of the new restrictions and will of course provide a further update when more information is available. Read more

Earlier this month, the G7 announced a plan to impose a cap on the price importers pay for Russian oil (see our previous blogpost for further detail).  On 28 September, President von der Leyen made a statement regarding the EU's intended implementation of this plan, as part of an eighth sanctions package in response to the escalation of the situation in Ukraine. Read more