The Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) shall expand export restrictions to Russia due to the poisoning of Alexei Navalny, as was announced on the official website of the U.S. Department of Commerce.
The sanctions will be expanded following the a March 2, 2021 determination by the Secretary of State that the Government of Russia has used chemical or biological weapons in violation of international law or lethal chemical or biological weapons against its own nationals.
The Department of Commerce released the following statement, “By deploying illegal nerve agents against dissidents, both inside and outside its borders, the Russian government has acted in flagrant violation of its commitments under the Chemical Weapons Convention and has directly put its own citizens and those of other countries at mortal risk. The Department of Commerce is committed to preventing Russia from accessing sensitive U.S. technologies that might be diverted to its malign chemical weapons activities.”
Consistent with the Secretary of State’s March 2, 2021 determination, and the imposition, effective March 18, 2021, of new sanctions, BIS will review license applications under a presumption of denial for exports and reexports of items controlled for national security reasons (NS items) that are destined for Russia. Effective March 18, 2021, BIS will also suspend License Exceptions Servicing and Replacement Parts and Equipment (RPL), Technology and Software Unrestricted (TSU), and Additional Permissive Reexports (APR) for NS items destined for Russia.