Prosecutors in the Southern District of New York have filed an action seeking the forfeiture of six properties, with a total value of around $75 million, which U.S. authorities believe are owned by Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg. The properties are located in New York, Southampton, and Fisher Island in Florida, and are allegedly linked to income received by Vekselberg through sanctions circumvention and money laundering. The U.S. Department of Justice announced the move, following charges against Vekselberg’s business partner, Vladimir Voronchenko, who U.S. officials say was attempting to help Vekselberg evade restrictions. Last year, Voronchenko was subpoenaed but fled to Moscow via Dubai. He now faces up to 20 years in prison.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said that there are few positive aspects in U.S.-Russian relations except for prisoner exchanges and that the U.S. has cut off channels for discussion on most issues after the start of military operations in Ukraine. He added that although the relationship is worse than ever, a complete break is both dangerous and undesirable.

Assistant Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland stated that the U.S. considers military installations in Crimea to be legitimate targets for Ukrainian strikes and plans to impose a major new package of sanctions against Russia with G7 partners around February 24, affecting companies in China, Iran, and North Korea. The European Union is also set to introduce the tenth round of sanctions, including export bans and blacklisting individuals and the “Russian propaganda machine.” A working group will also be established to use blocked Russian assets to rebuild Ukraine.

by Olga Tarasova, editor-in-chief

In 1979, Senator Joe Biden led a delegation of U.S. Senators to the Soviet Union to talk about arms control with Kosygin. What does the Biden presidency hold in store for U.S.-Russian relations?  

Joe Biden’s victory has led to a heated debate as to how the new U.S. president will handle U.S.-Russian relations. President-elect Biden is no stranger to conducting relations with Russia. Joe Biden made his first trip to the Soviet Union in 1979, when he visited Leningrad.

Overview of United States’ sanctions on Russian individuals, entities, and vessels.

U.S. businesses should be aware that the United States imposed sanctions on Russian persons (individuals, entities, and vessels), citing Russia’s annexation of Crimea, the invasion of eastern Ukraine, election interference, malicious cyber-enabled activities, human rights abuses, use of a chemical weapon, weapons proliferation, illicit trade with North Korea, and support to Syria. While U.S. companies and individuals can lawfully engage in a broad range of business activities involving Russia that are not subject to sanctions, penalties for violating U.S. sanctions can be severe. Therefore, American companies are advised to familiarize themselves with potentially applicable sanctions and to conduct thorough due diligence to ascertain whether a particular type of business activity or particular customers, clients, suppliers or partners may be subject to sanctions.

The United States tightened anti-Russian sanctions, blacklisting six individuals, and eight organizations affiliated with Russia, the U.S. Treasury Department said on March 15, 2019.

The sanctions lists includes Deputy Director of the Border Guard Service of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation Gennadiy Medvedev, head of the Service Command Point of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation for the republic of Crimea and Sevastopol Ruslan Romashkin, head of the Coast Guard Unit of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation Andrei Shein, head of the Border Directorate of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation Sergei Stankevich, as well as Deputy Chairman of the Central Election Commission of the proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) Alexey Naidenko, and the secretary of the DPR Central Election Commission Vladimir Vysotsky.

The Russian Deputy Foreign Minister noted that Moscow observes a declining readiness on the part of the U.S. to cooperate.

The relations of Moscow and Washington entered a period comparable to the Cold War. The Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey Ryabkov made the announcement on December 5, 2017 at a meeting of Russia’s Public Council on the International Cooperation and Public Diplomacy discussing the prospects in Russian-American relations.

“We entered a period which, in many respects, is comparable to the Cold War, the diplomat said. Anti-Russian sentiment was consciously cultivated in the United States, especially in the media.”

Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov called the U.S. an accomplice in fomenting war in Ukraine.

The U.S. went too far in allowing supplies of weapons to Ukraine, said Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov on December 23, 2017.

“In a sense, the United States has crossed the line by announcing its intention to hand over weapons to wage a war in Ukraine not as part of any commercial contracts, which the American companies have been quietly doing for a long time, but on a government-to- government level,” the Ministry’s press service cited Ryabkov Ryabkov as saying.

“Washington is trying to present itself as a mediator. [The U.S.] is not an intermediary, it is [becoming] an accomplice in fomenting war,” the deputy minister emphasized.

Russia lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya said that during the meeting she did not discuss Russia’s alleged intervention in the U.S. elections.

Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya is sorry about sitting down for a meeting with Donald Trump’s son in New York in 2016. Veselnitskaya voiced her regrets in a written statement directed to the Senate Judiciary Committee, television network NBC reported on December 5, 2017. Veselnitskaya’s statement answering the committee’s questions spans 51 pages, dispelling the allegations of Moscow’s attempts to interfere in the last year’s election campaign in the U.S.

On June 14, 2017, the overwhelming majority of U.S. Senate members voted to pass the bill to codify and extend anti-Russian sanctions. The measure took on the form of an amendment to the bill imposing sanctions against Iran. The new restrictive measures are such that President Donald Trump would not be able to weaken or cancel the sanctions without congressional approval.

The sanctions, which codify the provisions of President Obama’s executive orders relative to Russia, entail reducing from 30 days to 14 days the maximum allowed maturity period for new debt and new extensions of credit to the state controlled financial institutions targeted under the sectoral sanctions. The measure also reduces from 90 days to 60 days the maximum allowed maturity for new debt and new extensions of credit to sectoral sanctions targets in the energy sector.

The new U.S. Ambassador in Russia John Huntsman has presented his credentials to President Vladimir Putin.

“As for the bilateral relations with the United States, their present level is far from satisfactory. We support constructive, predictable, and mutually-rewarding cooperation. We are convinced that there is a need to strictly follow the principles of equality, of respect for national interests, and of non-interference into internal affairs,” President Putin said at a ceremony in the Kremlin.

President Putin also expressed to Huntsman his condolences in connection with the tragedy in Las Vegas, as a result of which 59 people have died.

A new Cold War may well begin if the Secretary of State Rex Tillerson leaves his post, according to the Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council’s International Affairs Committee Vladimir Dzhabarov.

“Russia will certainly work with any U.S. Secretary of State, and it is an internal question for the United States. But if Tillerson leaves and a hawk is appointed instead of him, we need to prepare for a Cold War,” Mr. Dzhabarov said on July 25, 2017.

Besides, Mr. Tillerson’s resignation would mean a loss for President Donald Trump in his fight with the democrats in the U.S. Congress, the Russian senator noted.

The CNN television network had earlier reported that Secretary Tillerson may leave his position because of disagreements with the White House. There are reportedly serious differences of opinion on personnel issues and the U.S. relations with Iran.

The director of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) Alexander Bortnikov said that Russia never meddled in the internal affairs of foreign nations, including in the 2016 presidential elections in the United States.

Speaking on October 5, 2017 following an international meeting of senior security officials in Russia, Mr. Bortnikov denied the claims of Russia’s alleged meddling in any sovereign country’s affairs.

“Our position is unambiguous: the Russian Federation has never interfered in what was or is happening in the United States or in other countries,” Mr. Bortnikov said. “Our approach is to help and assist, but not to interfere,” the FSB chief stressed.

Moreover, he noted that the FSB never severed its channels of communication with the U.S. security services, despite the problems in the bilateral relationship.

As of November 3, 2017, the three United States consulates located throughout Russia have resumed the issuance of visas. However, not all Russian citizens will be able to receive travel documents. Only those tourist visa applicants that do not need to have an interview are able to receive their visa at American diplomatic missions outside of Moscow. The U.S. Embassy announced in August that it would resume holding interviews as of September 1 in Moscow; however, no interviews have actually been scheduled.

According to Maria Olson, the U.S. Embassy’s press secretary, the issuance of American visas in cases when applicants don’t need to have an interview takes place at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, as well as at the U.S. Consulates in St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, and Vladivostok.

On October 9, 2017, a telephone conversation between the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and the U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson took place upon the American side’s request.

The top diplomats exchanged their outlooks on the situation in Syria, including the possibilities for Russia and the U.S. to cooperate, as well as to support the de-escalation zones in furtherance of a political settlement. The Russian side also indicated that it was imperative to wage a relentless fight against the ISIS terrorist group that is located in Syria. These efforts, according to the top Russian diplomat, are to be fulfilled by Russian troops.