Ukraine - Sanctions against Belarus and Russia - Update of 11 March
11 March 2022
The areas of perceived enhanced risk in The Black Sea and Sea of Azov have been updated by the Joint War Committee. A copy of JWLA-029 issued on 7 March 2022 can be accessed here and may be subject to further adjustments as appropriate.
The Warlike Operations Area Committee (WOAC) consisting of the UK Chamber of Shipping, Nautilus International and the RMT union have declared that for operators of ships who are members of the UK Chamber of Shipping that trade to the Black Sea, a warlike operations area is in effect in all Ukrainian, Russian and International Waters of 44 degrees North in the Black Sea. Members should allow crew to disembark before approaching that area or to agree increased payment terms if operating in the designated area.
Ports in Ukraine remain closed.
There are reports of Ukrainian seafarers being questioned at Russian Ports. Members with Ukrainian seafarers on board vessels bound for Russian ports should contact their usual club contact for further information/guidance.
Russian ships are also restricted from entering ports and/or waters of Canada. More information is available here.
Sanctions
The US, EU and UK continue to make additions to the designated entities lists so Members and Assureds should ensure that they carry out due diligence using updated lists.
Further to previous news alerts, additional sanctions have been imposed on Russia and Belarus as outlined below.
Russia
The US Government has banned the import into the US of Russian crude oil, petroleum, petroleum fuels, oils and products, liquefied natural gas, coal and coal products, as set out in the Executive Order dated 8 March 2022, click here. US law firm, Freehill Hogan & Mahar have issued a client alert (available here) clarifying that the import ban applies only to cargoes of Russian Federation origin, not to cargoes routed through Russia. For transactions entered into before 8 March, a winding down period runs until 22 April 2022.
The EU has also prohibited the sale, supply, transfer or export, directly or indirectly of maritime navigation goods and technology to Russia, for use in Russia or for placing on board Russian flagged vessels, as well as providing related technical, broking or financial assistance, and maintenance, manufacture of such goods and technology. For more details, see EU Council Decision (CFSP) 2022/395 and Council Regulation EU 2022/394.
The UK has announced on 8 March that it will phase out imports of Russian oil by the end of 2022. For more information on this click here.
Belarus
On 2 March, the EU expanded sanctions against Belarus, largely in line with those imposed against Russia. In particular, this includes:
• Export controls prohibit the sale, supply, transfer or export, directly or indirectly, of the following, whether or not originating in the EU, to any person/entity in Belarus or for use in Belarus of:
- All dual-use goods and technology listed in Annex I to Regulation (EU) 2021/821;
- goods and technology which might contribute to the military and enhancement of Belarus, or to the development of its defence and security sector; and
- various types of machinery.
• The provision of certain related services, including brokering and financing/financial assistance is prohibited, including the provision of insurance/re-insurance in relation to certain machinery.
• There are new sanctions prohibiting the purchase, transport and import into the EU of the following if they originate in Belarus or have been exported from Belarus:
- Goods used for the production or manufacturing of tobacco products;
- mineral products;
- wood and charcoal products;
- cement and cement products;
- rubber products;
- iron and steel products; and
- potassium chloride (“potash”) products.
• The provision of related services, including technical assistance, brokering services, financing/financial assistance and insurance/re-insurance is also prohibited.
- goods and technology which might contribute to the military and enhancement of Belarus, or to the development of its defence and security sector; and
- various types of machinery.
• The provision of certain related services, including brokering and financing/financial assistance is prohibited, including the provision of insurance/re-insurance in relation to certain machinery.
• There are new sanctions prohibiting the purchase, transport and import into the EU of the following if they originate in Belarus or have been exported from Belarus:
- Goods used for the production or manufacturing of tobacco products;
- mineral products;
- wood and charcoal products;
- cement and cement products;
- rubber products;
- iron and steel products; and
- potassium chloride (“potash”) products.
• The provision of related services, including technical assistance, brokering services, financing/financial assistance and insurance/re-insurance is also prohibited.
US Belarus Sanctions
On 2 March, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control announced sanctions measures against Belarus. Click here for the Press Release.
The measures include extending the export controls recently imposed on Russia to Belarus:
• Introduces Commerce Control List (CCL)-based licence requirements for Belarus;
• adds Belarus to 2 new Foreign Direct Product (FDP) rules, which imposes a “near total” ban on exports of items to both Russian and Belarusian military end users;
• imposes a licence review policy of denial applicable sensitive items that support Belarus’s defence, aerospace, and maritime industries;
• restricts the use of EAR licence exceptions;
• expands the existing military end use/user control to include Belarus for all items subject to the EAR, other than certain food and medicine; and
• adds JSC Integral and the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Belarus to the Entity List as military end users.
This is a fast developing situation and there may be other sanctions and details that we have not mentioned and/or are not yet available. Further News Alerts will follow on further sanctions that are implemented.