The Moscow Arbitration Court in an Aug. 1 order froze shares of companies owned by Goldman Sachs Group, worth around $36 million, after Russian bank Otkritie filed a lawsuit against the U.S. banking giant, the Financial Times reported. State-owned Otkritie said Goldman refused to fulfill $6.4 million in debt obligations under derivatives deals between the two banks. Goldman said it was not able to settle the debt due to sanctions set against the Russian bank, FT reported.

The U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation in a pair of Aug. 8 notices added 19 entries to its Russia sanctions regime and six entries to its Belarus restrictions regime. The Russia sanctions additions include 10 people and nine entities, most relating to Iran's support for the Russian military's war in Ukraine. Many of the people designated were employees or executives at one of the listed companies, Paravar Pars Co., an aerospace research and engineering firm in Iran.

The U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation on Aug. 4 updated its reporting forms for the general licenses pertaining to the oil price cap and ban on Russian oil services. Details are available on how to submit the forms.

Switzerland's State Secretariat for Economic Affairs on Aug. 3 added six people and one entity to its Myanmar sanctions regime following the EU's designation of the parties. The designations target Myanmar's Health and Sport Minister Thet Khaing Win; Quartermaster General Kyaw Swar Lin; Union Minister for Immigration and Population Myint Kyaing; and members of the State Administration Council. The listed entity is No 2 Mining Enterprise.

The European Council on Aug. 4 announced a humanitarian exemption for its Guinea-Bissau sanctions regime, which exempts certain restrictions from applying to the provision of funds where the "timely delivery" of humanitarian services is needed. The exemption can be used by various international organizations, including the U.N. or humanitarian organizations that have "observer status" with the U.N. General Assembly.

The European Council on Aug. 3 added another 38 individuals and three entities to its Belarus sanctions regime, further extending export bans to cover goods for the firearms, aviation and space industry. The listings include "penitentiary officials responsible for the torture and ill-treatment of detainees," members of the judiciary, cogs of civil society and journalists, the council said.

The Georgian Ministry of Finance on Aug. 3 imposed an export/reexport ban on vehicles that were imported from the U.S. to Georgia to Russia and Belarus, according to an unofficial translation. The ministry also barred, effective Sept. 26, the export of vehicles to Russia with engines larger than 1,900 cubic centimeters and all electric and hybrid vehicles shipped from the EU.

A group of European countries not in the EU aligned with recent sanctions decisions from the European Council under the lists of parties subject to restrictions to combat terrorism and threatening the sovereignty of Ukraine, along with the Syria sanctions regime.

An EU proposal to reform its customs system could make European trade “more efficient and less burdensome,” and would be “a key tool in risk analysis and risk management as a centralized data repository at the Union level,” Crowell & Moring said in an Aug. 2 client alert.

The EU on Aug. 2 updated two of its Russia sanctions FAQs. The FAQs on the oil price cap now include a question on what oil is covered by the price cap and whether the measures apply to non-Russian oil cargo mixed with Russian oil. The bloc said that the measures do apply to Russian crude falling under CN code 2709.00 and Russian petroleum goods under CN code 2710.