International sanctions

The business registrar in the Republic of Cyprus has been flooded with requests from companies scrambling to make changes to their structures, after hundreds of firms on the island saw their assets frozen due to new sanctions targeting agencies viewed by Washington and London as "Russian enablers."

About a week ago the US imposed sanctions on Turkish entities it said violated US export controls and helped Russia's war effort.

Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting with the State Council Presidium on developing Russian industry under sanctions during a trip to Tula, Russia, 04 April 2023. EPA-EFE/GAVRIIL GRIGOROV

The United States on Wednesday imposed sanctions on at least four Turkey-based entities it said violated US export controls and helped Russia's war effort, in the biggest US enforcement action in Turkey since the invasion of Ukraine last year.

Osman Mehmedagic, former director of Bosnia's Intelligence and Security Agency and now sanctioned by the US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, OFAC, reacted to the penalty by saying that the "accusations are unfounded and false".

The US Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, OFAC, extended the list of sanctioned individuals from Bosnia and Herzegovina on Wednesday, slapping sanctions on a former chief of the Intelligence Security Agency, Osman "Osmica" Mehmedagic and two others. 

The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, in her Telegram channel, responded to the call of the Minister of Economy of Serbia, Rade Basta, to the government to join the sanctions against Russia in connection with the growing pressure on the republic from the West.

The caretaker government is preparing a request for a derogation if the European Union imposes sanctions against Russian nuclear energy, Deputy Minister of Energy Elenko Bozhkov told BNT.

Washington says there is no new policy to announce regarding a recent arms embargo lift on the Republic of Cyprus, following news that US sanctions have been imposed on several dealers including individuals who are based on the island.

Here are the highlights of events related to the war in Ukraine over the past 24 hours:

The EU extends economic sanctions against Russia until July 31