Key sanctions developments in August include further US, EU and UK measures against Belarus which target the government and business sectors and the continued targeting of alleged human rights abusers in Nicaragua and Cuba by the US. There has also been speculation over whether Afghanistan will be formally sanctioned following its takeover by the Taliban:
- The sudden and dramatic fall of the Government of Afghanistan to the Taliban has seen the US freeze over $9 billion in Afghan Central Bank reserves. Senior Taliban figures already feature across UN, US, EU and UK sanctions programmes and there is now considerable speculation over whether the country’s government will now be sanctioned by the international community following their seizure of power. President Biden has indicated that any future sanctions regime imposed on Afghanistan will depend on the conduct of its new government and its approach to human rights. The US has indicated that it will continue to help humanitarian organisations delivering aid to the country in a manner consistent with the existing sanctions programmes.
- August 2021 saw the US prosecute several individuals and entities for contravening its sanctions regime on Iran. Early in the month a US-domiciled Iranian citizen was charged for the illegal export of laboratory equipment, while a US veterinary company is currently being investigated for its Iranian dealings. An Omani oil broker called Mahmood Rashid Amur Al Habsi and several associated entities have been sanctioned for running an Iranian oil smuggling operation. Elsewhere, the US has released a General License permitting the export of certain graduate-level software for use in Iranian educational facilities.
- Measures have been strengthened this month against the Government of Belarus, with the Swiss replicating EU sanctions against the country first introduced in June 2021. The UK has itself introduced a new package of trade sanctions targeting the country’s trading, financial and aviation sectors. The US has also expanded its Belarus sanctions programme, targeting 44 individuals and entities in the country’s government as well as Belarussian financial institutions and OAO Belaruskali, a state-owned potash manufacturer.
- The US and UK have imposed additional sanctions on employees of the Russian state security apparatus suspected to have been involved in the poisoning of Russian opposition politician Alexey Navalny. Elsewhere, the US has imposed additional restrictions on those involved in the German-Russian gas pipeline Nord Stream 2 project, targeting a pipe-laying ship and its parent entity as well as a Russian insurance company.
- The US has also sanctioned the Cuban police body, Policia Nacional Revolucionaria, under its Global Magnitsky Programme aimed at curbing human rights abuses worldwide in relation to its suppression of protests in the country. Three officials in the Cuban Ministry of the Interior have also been added to the list of targets under the programme.
- Several measures were deployed in August against Nicaraguan nationals deemed to be involved in human rights abuses and attacks on democracy. Tens of individuals were the subject of US-imposed visa restrictions, while EU sanctions were imposed on eight individuals.
