April 2024

United States – The US federal government reported in a notice that the Department of Commerce added 11 entities from Russia, China, and the UAE yesterday, Wednesday, to the government’s export restriction list for reasons related to violating sanctions on Iran, the war in Ukraine, and the attack on oil tankers in the Middle East.

• The Ministry of Commerce listed two companies from the UAE that it said had violated sanctions imposed on Iran, according to the notice.
• It also added 4 Chinese companies, claiming that they obtained American goods to support Chinese military modernization.
• In addition to a Chinese company, the ministry said it supported the Russian army with drones.
• She added that a Chinese company called Changan Jiasibo operates within a network that purchases aircraft components, including what is also used in drones, for an aircraft company in Iran.
• It also added 3 Russian companies that it said were part of the network.

“These components are used to develop and produce the Shahed drones that Iran used to attack oil tankers in the Middle East and that Russia used in Ukraine,” the notice said.

Companies are added to the US Department of Commerce’s Entity List when Washington considers them a threat to its national security or foreign policy.

Following the decision, suppliers will have to obtain licences, which will likely be denied, before shipping goods to entities on the list.

On a related topic, a European Union court – today, Wednesday – canceled sanctions imposed on two Russian businessmen, Peter Aven and Mikhail Fridman, following concluding that the reasons presented by Brussels were invalid.

The European Union imposed successive sanctions on Russian citizens and companies on charges of benefiting from or playing a role in the Russian-Ukrainian war that has been ongoing since 2022, according to what Agence France-Presse reported.

However, the European Union General Court, based in Luxembourg, issued a decision in favor of an appeal filed by Aven and Friedman, the two major shareholders in the Russian Alpha Bank, and said that the reasons given by the European Council for targeting them “cannot be taken into account.”

As a result, the court said – in a statement – that it “nullifies both the initial measures, and those that maintain the lists of restrictive measures” once morest them, as determined by the Council between the beginning of 2022 and the beginning of 2023.

The EU sanctions list related to Russia includes more than 1,700 individuals and 400 business entities, including Alfa Bank.

The UK Ministry of Defense announced on Tuesday that it had analyzed the 2024 March 31 open-source photos showing missile debris falling in a field in the Saratov region of southern Russia, Business Insider reports.

Initially thought to be parts of a Ukrainian drone, closer inspection revealed that the wreckage is likely fragments of a Russian Ch-101/Ch-102 air-launched cruise missile.

“It is highly likely that this debris is from missiles launched into Ukraine earlier that morning,” the UK Ministry of Defense said.

In the Saratov region, there is Engels airfield, where several bombers are based, which carry out long-range strikes once morest Ukraine.

The Ch-101 missile is a Russian first-class precision-guided missile with a range of regarding 4,000 km. It was designed to attack important military targets such as airfields and warships. Russia is now actively using such missiles once morest Ukraine, and recently they have been directed once morest Ukraine’s energy infrastructure or grain towers.

“The failure of such a prestigious missile is likely to indicate production problems, which may have been influenced by sanctions and haste,” British intelligence said.

On March 31, during the night from Sunday to Monday, Russian forces launched a massive missile attack in Ukraine. 14 cruise missiles are said to have been launched from Tu-95MS aircraft.

In March, Russia also bombarded Ukraine with flying bombs, which Ukraine can counter only by destroying the planes that drop them. March 27 Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that Russia had dropped regarding 700 flying bombs on Ukraine in six days.