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Tag: Sanctions and embargoes

  • Tobacco company settles with US over business in North Korea

    Tobacco company settles with US over business in North Korea

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    The Justice Department says a British tobacco company has agreed to a $629 million settlement to resolve allegations that it did illegal business with North Korea in violation of U.S. sanctions

    ByERIC TUCKER Associated Press

    WASHINGTON — A British tobacco company has agreed to pay more than $629 million to settle allegations that it did illegal business with North Korea in violation of U.S. sanctions, the Justice Department said Tuesday.

    British American Tobacco, one of the largest tobacco companies in the world, entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with the Justice Department, while the company’s Singapore subsidiary pleaded guilty to bank fraud and sanctions charges. BAT said in its own statement that the settlement concerns sales from 2007 through 2017 and that the company has since taken steps to improve its business practices.

    North Korea faces stringent U.S. and international sanctions going back nearly two decades for its nuclear weapons program and development of intercontinental ballistic missiles. Pyongyang has continued to research and test more nuclear weapons. It has also worked to evade sanctions with the cooperation of allies like China and illicit trade with barred countries and companies.

    The penalty is the largest arising from North Korea sanctions violations in the Justice Department’s history, said Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen.

    “This case and others like it do serve as a warning shot to companies, companies that support rogue regimes like North Korea through their activities — that they have to have compliance programs, compliance programs that prevent these kinds of activities from taking place,” he said.

    BAT admitted that it continued to do tobacco business in North Korea after stating publicly that it no longer had operations with the repressive regime and divesting its North Korea sales to a third-party company.

    North Korean purchases of the tobacco occurred through front companies that concealed the connections from U.S. banks that processed the transactions.

    In a statement, BAT chief executive Jack Knowles said the company regrets “the misconduct arising from historical business activities that led to these settlements, and acknowledge that we fell short of the highest standards rightly expected of us.”

    He said the company had since transformed its ethics and compliance programs.

    In an unrelated case, federal prosecutors disclosed a cigarette trafficking scheme that raised money for North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, announcing charges against three men — a North Korean banker and two Chinese facilitators. The State Department has announced a reward for information leading to their arrest.

    British American Tobacco produces Lucky Strike, Dunhill, and Pall Mall brands. It agreed in 2017 to take over Reynolds American Inc., which owned brands like Newport and Camel, creating the world’s largest publicly traded tobacco company.

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  • Trade envoy Tai says US not seeking to ‘decouple’ from China

    Trade envoy Tai says US not seeking to ‘decouple’ from China

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    TOKYO — Washington is not seeking to decouple the American economy from China’s, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said Thursday while on a visit to Tokyo.

    Tai, who is on her fourth visit to Japan after being appointed the top U.S. trade envoy, said all members of President Joe Biden’s administration have been “very clear that it is not the intention to decouple” China’s economy.

    U.S. trade sanctions against China are “narrowly targeted,” she said.

    Given its huge size and importance, unraveling the ties with China that keep the world economy running is “not a goal or achievable,” Tai said in a news conference at the Foreign Correspondent’s Club of Japan.

    Chinese officials have often lashed out at the U.S. over trade sanctions and other restrictions on sharing of advanced technology with China, accusing Washington of trying to “contain” China and hinder its path toward greater affluence.

    Tai said that regular trade work between the U.S. and China was continuing and she was “completely open to engaging with my counterparts in Beijing,” though she has no immediate plans to visit China.

    At the same time, the United States is seeking to strengthen and expand economic security cooperation with its Asian allies and partners in response to China’s growing assertiveness and its dominance in many manufacturing industries.

    Security and stability of supply chains is an issue that has gained urgency after disruptions caused by the pandemic and controls imposed to try to fight outbreaks of COVID-1 resulted in shortages of computer chips and other goods.

    The Biden administration is taking a new approach to global trade, arguing that America’s traditional reliance on promoting free trade pacts failed to anticipate China’s brand of capitalism and the possibility that a major power like Russia would go to war against one of its trading partners.

    Tai recently gave a speech at American University, where she spoke of “friend-shoring’’ — building up supply chains among allied countries and reducing dependence on geopolitical rivals such as China.

    Tai pointed to a new trade partnership with Japan that she said has brought “tangible results for our workers, small businesses, and producers on both sides of the Pacific.” That includes an agreement to lift limits on U.S. exports of beef to Japan and a new biofuels policy to facilitate exports of more ethanol to Japan, she said.

    Tai also reviewed the status of negotiations on the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, or IPEF, a new trade pact proposed by Washington.

    She said a third round of negotiations on the accord was planned in two weeks’ time in Singapore.

    The framework has 13 members, including the U.S., that account for 40% of global gross domestic product: Australia, Brunei, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

    The U.S. has stepped up diplomacy across the region, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken stopping over the weekend in Vietnam, which Washington sees as a key component of its strategy for the region given the country’s traditional rivalry with its much larger neighbor China.

    Tai’s Tokyo visit follows a trip to the Philippine capital, Manila, to help fortify trade relations among the three countries as they build both economic and defense ties.

    During her stay in Japan Tai met with Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi and discussed making supply chains more resilient and secure, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

    She also met with Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Yasutoshi Nishimura. The trade ministry said the two also spoke about strengthening supply chains — an issue that gained urgency amid shortages of computer chips and other goods during the pandemic. They also discussed ways to cooperate in the protection of human rights in business, the ministry said.

    Japan and the United States have set up a taskforce that aims to eliminate human rights violations in international supply chains and to ban use of materials from suppliers that subject their workers to inhumane conditions.

    To highlight such efforts, Tai toured an outlet of outdoor equipment and clothing retailer Patagonia in Tokyo’s popular Shibuya shopping and business district.

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    AP Business Writer Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.

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  • Hungary’s Orban calls US a ‘friend’ despite sanction on bank

    Hungary’s Orban calls US a ‘friend’ despite sanction on bank

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    BUDAPEST, Hungary — Hungary’s prime minister sought to bring down the temperature on spiraling tensions between his government and the United States, declaring Friday that the U.S. is Hungary’s “friend” despite sanctions Washington imposed on a Budapest-based Russian bank.

    In an interview on state radio, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said that the International Investment Bank, a Russian-controlled financial institution which U.S. officials have argued could serve as a conduit for Russian espionage, “could have played a serious role in developing Central European economies.”

    While the war in Ukraine had limited the bank’s effectiveness, Orban said, the U.S. sanctions against IIB and three of its top officials had “ruined it.” The Hungarian government withdrew its membership in the bank Thursday, the day after the sanctions were issued.

    “(The bank’s) operations have been rendered impossible. It can’t serve its function,” Orban said. “We decided that under these circumstances, Hungary’s participation in the bank’s further work has become pointless.”

    The sanctions — a broader package targeting the financial networks of two of Moscow’s wealthiest businessmen but also, in the case of Hungary, a rare step aimed at a NATO ally — brought rising tensions between Budapest and Washington to a head.

    U.S. officials have grown increasingly dissatisfied with Hungary’s approach to the war in Ukraine, criticism of war-related sanctions on Russia and continuing close ties with Moscow, which have given Orban a reputation as the Kremlin’s closest ally in the European Union.

    Increasing anti-American rhetoric in Hungary’s government-tied media and assertions from senior Hungarian officials that Washington seeks to force Hungary into the war have added fuel to the fire, bringing diplomatic relations to their lowest point in years.

    But Orban appeared to want to pump the brakes on the deteriorating relations, emphasizing the U.S.’s status as Hungary’s NATO ally and one of its most important trading partners.

    “We have good relations with the Americans,” he said. “The United States is our friend and an important ally as well.”

    “We’ve never agreed with the sanctions (against Russia,)” the populist prime minister continued, “but we don’t dispute anyone’s right, including that of the United States, to impose sanctions if they see fit.”

    Orban’s conciliatory remarks followed actions by Hungary that escalated its disputes with Washington. Those include sending its foreign minister to Moscow for energy talks on Tuesday and receiving the Moscow-allied Belarusian foreign minister in Budapest on Wednesday, said Daniel Hegedus, an analyst and Central Europe fellow for the German Marshall Fund.

    But the Hungarian government’s reaction to the U.S. sanctions has been “surprisingly accommodating,” Hegedus told The Associated Press, signaling that Orban was willing to make concessions in order to preserve a relationship with its largest ally.

    “This was a message from the Hungarian government that, ‘Yes, we are responsive and we are ready in some way to settle this relationship,’” Hegedus said.

    Hungary’s president, Katalin Novak, also indicated Friday that Hungary would forego escalating tensions over the U.S. sanctions, writing on Twitter that “I welcome the decision of the Hungarian government to withdraw its representatives from the International Investment Bank.”

    “In the shadow of war in Ukraine, the bank’s operation had lost its meaning; steps are needed to bring us closer to peace,” Novak wrote.

    Despite opposition from U.S. and European officials, Orban’s government continues to lobby against EU sanctions on Russia, pursue energy deals with Moscow and to refrain from sending weapons to Ukraine.

    Hegedus, the analyst, said that while he doesn’t expect “a fundamental U-turn” in Hungary’s Russia policy in the near future, the U.S. sanctions on the bank proved that Hungary’s government “is responsive to pressure.”

    “When it faces significant leverage from a partner, then it reacts,” he said.

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    Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine-war

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  • Zelenskyy calls for confiscating Russian Central Bank funds

    Zelenskyy calls for confiscating Russian Central Bank funds

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    WASHINGTON — In an appeal to the heads of the IMF and World Bank, Ukraine‘s president on Wednesday renewed his call to confiscate Russian Central Bank assets held around the world and use them to help rebuild Ukraine.

    “To charge the aggressor with compensation for damages,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said by video link. “Russia must feel the full price of its aggression.”

    The U.S. announced at the start of Russia’s invasion that America and its allies had blocked access to more than $600 billion that Russia held outside its borders. The U.S and its allies continue to impose rounds of targeted sanctions against companies and the wealthy elite with ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

    “It must be clearly stated that the assets of the Russian Central Bank will be confiscated. It will be a peacemaking act on a global scale,” Zelenskyy said.

    He was patched in for a session with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, World Bank President David Malpass and International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, held during the IMF and World Bank spring meetings to discuss Ukraine’s ongoing funding needs.

    A joint assessment released in March by Ukraine’s government, the World Bank and European Commission estimates Ukraine’s long-term recovery needs will total at least $411 billion. In March, Ukraine and the International Monetary Fund agreed on a $15.6 billion loan package aimed at shoring up the government’s severely strained finances.

    Since the war began in February 2022, the United States has given Ukraine more than $100 billion in military and civilian support, which includes some money for reconstruction. Other countries also have provided Ukraine with substantial support.

    At the roundtable, Yellen said “the United States will do what it takes to support Ukraine, for as long as it takes.” She said “our historic multilateral sanctions coalition is restricting Russia’s access to the technology and equipment it needs to supply its military.”

    Zelenskyy argued that liquidating Russia’s funds held around the world, including those of sanctioned oligarchs, would send a message to “potential aggressors” wherever they may be.

    The idea is gaining traction. Former Biden administration official Daleep Singh told the Senate Banking Committee on Feb. 28 that forfeiting Russia’s billions in assets held by the U.S. is “something we ought to pursue.” And Charles Michel, president of the European Council, has called for using Russia’s Central Bank funds to “rebuild what it has destroyed.”

    The U.S. announced last week that Treasury officials Liz Rosenberg and Brian Nelson — specialists in sanctions and terrorist financing — will travel to Europe this month to meet with leaders of financial institutions in Switzerland, Italy and Germany. They plan to share intelligence on potential sanctions evaders and to warn of the potential penalties for failure to comply with international sanctions.

    During Wednesday’s meeting, Zelenskyy stood and called for a moment of silence for a Ukrainian soldier who appears to have been beheaded. A gruesome video that purports to show the beheading spread quickly online and drew outrage in Ukraine, in the latest accusation of atrocities said to have been committed by Russian troops.

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  • SKorea, US, Japan call for support of ban on NKorea workers

    SKorea, US, Japan call for support of ban on NKorea workers

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    SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea, the U.S. and Japan called for stronger international support of efforts to ban North Korea from sending workers abroad and curb the North’s cybercrimes as a way to block the country’s means to fund its nuclear program.

    The top South Korean, U.S. and Japanese nuclear envoys met in Seoul on Friday in their first gathering in four months to discuss how to cope with North Korea’s growing nuclear arsenal. The North’s recent weapons tests show it is intent on acquiring more advanced missiles designed to attack the U.S. and its allies, rather than returning to talks.

    Despite 11 rounds of U.N. sanctions and pandemic-related hardships that have worsened its economic and food problems, North Korea still devotes much of its scarce resources to its nuclear and missile programs. Contributing to financing its weapons program is also likely the North’s crypto hacking and other illicit cyber activities and the wages sent by North Korean workers remaining in China, Russia and elsewhere despite an earlier U.N. order to repatriate them by the end of 2019, experts say.

    In a joint statement, the South Korean, U.S. and Japanese envoys urged the international community to thoroughly abide by U.N. resolutions on the banning of North Korean workers overseas, according to Seoul’s Foreign Ministry.

    The ministry said a large number of North Korean workers remains engaged in economic activities around the world and transmits money that is used in the North’s weapons programs. It said the three envoys tried to call attention to the North Korean workers because the North may further reopen its international borders as the global COVID-19 situation improves.

    It is not known exactly how many North Korean workers remain abroad. But before the 2019 U.N. deadline passed, the U.S. State Department had estimated there were about 100,000 North Koreans working in factories, construction sites, logging industries and other places worldwide. Civilian experts had said that those workers brought North Korea an estimated $200 million to $500 million in revenue each year.

    “We need to make sure that its provocations never go unpunished. We will effectively counter North Korea’s future provocations and cut their revenue streams that fund these illegal activities,” Kim Gunn, the South Korean envoy, said in televised comments at the start of the meeting.

    Sung Kim, the U.S. envoy, said that with its nuclear and missile programs and “malicious cyber program that targets countries and individuals around the globe,” North Korea threatens the security and prosperity of the entire international community.

    South Korea’s spy agency said in December that North Korean hackers had stolen an estimated 1.5 trillion won ($1.2 billion) in cryptocurrency and other virtual assets in the past five years, more than half of it last year alone. The National Intelligence Service said North Korea’s capacity to steal digital assets was considered among the best in the world because it has focused on cybercrimes since U.N. economic sanctions were toughened in 2017 in response to its earlier nuclear and missile tests.

    Friday’s trilateral meeting will likely infuriate North Korea, which has previously warned that the three countries’ moves to boost their security cooperation prompted urgent calls to reinforce its own military capability.

    North Korea has long argued the U.N. sanctions and U.S.-led military exercises in the region are proof of Washington’s hostility against Pyongyang. The North has said it was compelled to develop nuclear weapons to deal with U.S. military threats, though U.S. and South Korean officials have steadfastly said they have no intention of invading the North.

    Earlier this week, the United States conducted anti-submarine naval drills with South Korean and Japanese forces in their first such training in six months. The U.S. also flew nuclear-capable bombers for separate, bilateral aerial training with South Korean warplanes.

    North Korea hasn’t performed weapons tests in reaction to those U.S.-involved drills. But last month, it carried out a barrage of missile tests to protest the earlier South Korean-U.S. military training that it sees as an invasion rehearsal.

    Takehiro Funakoshi, the Japanese envoy, said North Korea’s recent weapons tests and fiery rhetoric pose a grave threat to the region and beyond. “Under such circumstances, our three countries have significantly deepened our coordination,” he said.

    Sung Kim reiterated that Washington seeks diplomacy with Pyongyang without preconditions. North Korea has previously rejected such overtures, saying it won’t restart talks unless Washington first drops its hostile policies, in an apparent reference to the sanctions and U.S.-South Korean military drills. Many experts say North Korea would still eventually use its enlarged weapons arsenal to seek U.S. concessions such as the lifting of the sanctions in future negotiations.

    There are concerns that North Korea could conduct its first nuclear test in more than five years, since it unveiled a new type of nuclear warhead last week. Foreign experts debate whether North Korea has developed warheads small and light enough to fit on missiles.

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  • US sanction officials plan missions to clamp down on Russia

    US sanction officials plan missions to clamp down on Russia

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    Top sanctions officials from the U.S. Treasury Department are set to make a series of international trips as part of a new campaign to pressure firms and countries that continue to do business with the Kremlin to cut off financial ties because of Russi…

    ByFATIMA HUSSEIN Associated Press

    WASHINGTON — Top sanctions officials from the U.S. Treasury Department plan special international trips this month to pressure firms and countries still doing business with Russia to cut off financial ties because of the war on Ukraine.

    The message is that those working with Russia’s government must decide:

    1. Continue to provide Moscow with material support or

    2. Keep doing business with countries that represent 50 percent of the global economy.

    Those are the choices to be laid out, senior Treasury officials told reporters on a call Friday. They spoke on the condition of anonymity to preview the travel plans.

    Treasury officials Liz Rosenberg and Brian Nelson — specialists in sanctions and terrorist financing — will travel to Europe this month to meet with leaders of financial institutions in Switzerland, Italy and Germany. They plan to share intelligence on potential sanctions evaders and to warn of the potential penalties for failure to comply with international sanctions.

    Rosenberg will also make a stop in the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan to urge the country’s private businesses not to provide material or intelligence support to the Kremlin. Earlier this year, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Kazakhstan to pledge U.S. support for its independence and to stress the importance of respect for “sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence.”

    Central Asian states have been neutral on Ukraine, neither supporting Russia’s invasion nor U.S. and Western condemnations of the war.

    Senior Treasury officials on Friday pointed to Russia’s slowing economic growth as a sign that efforts to sanction Russian oligarchs and large swaths of the Russian economy have been successful. The value of the ruble also is falling.

    Officials credit the oil price cap plan that was rolled out at the end of 2022 among Group of Seven countries in an effort to clamp down on Vladimir Putin’s access to cash as he wages war on Ukraine.

    The countries have agreed to pay $60 per barrel for Russian oil. The intention is to deprive Putin of money to keep prosecuting the war while still allowing oil to flow out of Russia and help to keep global prices low.

    Thus far, the U.S. and allies have directly sanctioned more than 2,500 Russian firms, government officials, oligarchs and their families. The sanctions block them from access to American bank accounts and financial markets, preventing them from doing business with Americans, traveling to the U.S. and more.

    On the anniversary of the invasion, the U.S. began taking aim at entities that helped Russia evade earlier rounds of sanctions. Russia’s metals and mining sectors are also among those targeted in what Treasury has called one of the most significant sanctions actions to date.

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  • North Korea holds rare meeting on farming amid food shortage

    North Korea holds rare meeting on farming amid food shortage

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    SEOUL, South Korea — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un opened a major political conference dedicated to agricultural improvement, state media reported Monday, amid outside assessments that the country’s chronic food insecurity is getting worse.

    Recent unconfirmed reports have said an unknown number of North Koreans have died of hunger. But observers have seen no indication of mass deaths or famine in North Korea, though its food shortage has likely deepened due to pandemic-related curbs, persistent international sanctions and its own mismanagements.

    During a high-level meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party that began Sunday, senior party officials reviewed last year’s work under state goals to accomplish “rural revolution in the new era,” the official Korean Central News Agency reported.

    The report said that the meeting of the party’s Central Committee will determine “immediate, important” tasks on agricultural issues and “urgent tasks arising at the present stage of the national economic development.”

    KNCA didn’t say whether Kim spoke during the meeting or how long it would last. Senior officials such as Cabinet Premier Kim Tok Hun and Jo Yong Won, one of Kim’s closest aides who handles the Central Committee’s organizational affairs, were also attending.

    The meeting is the party’s first plenary session convened only to discuss agriculture. Monday’s report didn’t elaborate on its agenda, but the party’s powerful Politburo said earlier this month that a “a turning point is needed to dynamically promote radical change in agricultural development.”

    Most analysts North Korea’s food situation today is nowhere near the extremes of the 1990s, when hundreds of thousands of people died in a famine. However, some experts say its food insecurity is likely at its worst since Kim took power in 2011, after COVID-19 restrictions further shocked an economy battered by decades of mismanagement and crippling U.S.-led sanctions imposed over Kim’s nuclear program.

    In early 2020, North Korea tried to shield its population from the coronavirus by imposing stringent border controls that choked off trade with China, its main ally and economic lifeline. Russia’s war on Ukraine possibly worsened the situation by driving up global prices of food, energy and fertilizer, on which North Korea’s agricultural production is heavily dependent.

    After spending more than two years in a strict pandemic lockdown, North Korea last year reopened freight train traffic with China and Russia. More than 90% of North Korea’s official external trade goes through its border with China.

    Last year, North Korea’s grain production was estimated at 4.5 million tons, a 3.8% drop from 2020, according to South Korean government assessments. The North was estimated to have produced between 4.4 million tons to 4.8 million tons of grain annually from 2012-2021, according to previous South Korean data.

    North Korea needs about 5.5 million tons of grain to feed its 25 million people annually, so it’s short about 1 million tons this year. In past years, half of such a gap was usually met by unofficial grain purchases from China, with the rest remaining as unresolved shortfall, according to Kwon Tae-jin, a senior economist at the private GS&J Institute in South Korea.

    Kwon says trade curbs due to the pandemic have likely hindered unofficial rice purchases from China. Efforts by North Korean authorities to tighten controls and restrict market activities have also worsened the situation, he said.

    It’s unclear whether North Korea will take any action to quickly address its food problems. Some experts say North Korea will use this week’s plenary meeting to boost public support of Kim during his confrontations with the United States and its allies over his nuclear ambitions.

    Despite limited resources, Kim has been aggressively pushing to expand his nuclear weapons and missile programs to pressure Washington into accepting the idea of the North as a nuclear power and lift international sanctions on it. After a record year of weapons testing activities in 2022, North Korea launched an intercontinental ballistic missile and other weapons in displays this month.

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  • Iran’s currency hits new low amid anti-government protests

    Iran’s currency hits new low amid anti-government protests

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    Iran’s currency has fallen to a new record low, plunging to 600,000 to the dollar for the first time

    ByJOSEPH KRAUSS Associated Press

    February 26, 2023, 5:50 AM

    DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran’s currency fell to a new record low on Sunday, plunging to 600,000 to the dollar for the first time as the effects of nationwide anti-government protests and the breakdown of the 2015 nuclear deal continued to roil the economy.

    Iranians have formed long lines in front of exchange offices in recent days, hoping to acquire increasingly scarce dollars. Many have seen their life savings evaporate as the local currency has deteriorated. Inflation reached 53.4% in January, up from 41.4% two years ago, according to Iran’s statistics center.

    The dire economic conditions have contributed to widespread anger at the government, but have also forced many Iranians to focus on putting food on the table rather than engaging in high-risk political activism amid a fierce crackdown on dissent.

    Iran’s currency was trading at 32,000 rials to the dollar when it signed the 2015 nuclear accord with world powers. The agreement lifted international sanctions in return for strict limits on and surveillance of its nuclear activities.

    The agreement unraveled when then-President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the U.S. from it and restored crippling sanctions. Iran responded by ramping up its enrichment of uranium, and now has enough for “several” atomic weapons if it chooses to develop them, according to the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog.

    Iran insists its nuclear program is entirely peaceful, but experts say it had a nuclear weapons program until 2003 and is developing a breakout capacity that could allow it to quickly build an atomic weapon should it decide to do so.

    The Biden administration supports a return to the 2015 agreement, but negotiations hit an impasse last year and appear to have ground to a halt. Iran has further angered Western countries by supplying armed drones to Russia that have been used in its invasion of Ukraine.

    Meanwhile, Iran has seen waves of anti-government protests since the September death of a 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman who was detained by the morality police for allegedly violating Iran’s strict Islamic dress code.

    The protests rapidly escalated into calls for the overthrow of Iran’s ruling Shiite clerics, marking a major challenge to their four-decade rule. Iran’ has blamed the unrest on foreign powers, casting it as an extension of the sanctions, without providing evidence.

    The Trump administration had hoped that maximum sanctions would force Iran to make major concessions on its nuclear activities, its ballistic missile program and its military involvement in countries across the Middle East, but it has yet to do so.

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  • Today in History: FEB 7, Kennedy imposes Cuba embargo

    Today in History: FEB 7, Kennedy imposes Cuba embargo

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    Today in History

    Today is Tuesday, Feb. 7, the 38th day of 2023. There are 333 days left in the year.

    Today’s Highlight in History:

    On Feb. 7, 1964, the Beatles arrived at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport to begin their first American tour.

    On this date:

    In 1857, a French court acquitted author Gustave Flaubert of obscenity for his serialized novel “Madame Bovary.”

    In 1943, the government abruptly announced that wartime rationing of shoes made of leather would go into effect in two days, limiting consumers to buying three pairs per person per year. (Rationing was lifted in October 1945.)

    In 1948, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower resigned as U.S. Army chief of staff; he was succeeded by Gen. Omar Bradley.

    In 1962, President John F. Kennedy imposed a full trade embargo on Cuba.

    In 1971, women in Switzerland gained the right to vote through a national referendum, 12 years after a previous attempt failed.

    In 1984, space shuttle Challenger astronauts Bruce McCandless II and Robert L. Stewart went on the first untethered spacewalk, which lasted nearly six hours.

    In 1985, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena was kidnapped in Guadalajara, Mexico, by drug traffickers who tortured and murdered him.

    In 1991, Jean-Bertrand Aristide (zhahn behr-TRAHN’ ahr-ihs-TEED’) was inaugurated as the first democratically elected president of Haiti (he was overthrown by the military the following September).

    In 1999, Jordan’s King Hussein died of cancer at age 63; he was succeeded by his eldest son, Abdullah (ab-DUH’-luh).

    In 2009, a miles-wide section of ice in Lake Erie broke away from the Ohio shoreline, trapping about 135 fishermen, some for as long as four hours before they could be rescued (one man fell into the water and later died of an apparent heart attack).

    In 2014, the Sochi Olympics opened with a celebration of Russia’s past greatness and hopes for future glory.

    In 2020, two days after his acquittal in his first Senate impeachment trial, President Donald Trump took retribution against two officials who had delivered damaging testimony; he ousted Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, a national security aide, and Gordon Sondland, his ambassador to the European Union.

    Ten years ago: CIA Director-designate John Brennan strongly defended anti-terror attacks by unmanned drones under close questioning at a protest-disrupted confirmation hearing held by the Senate Intelligence Committee.

    Five years ago: Biotech billionaire Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong struck a $500 million deal to buy the Los Angeles Times, the San Diego Union-Tribune and some other publications; the deal would take effect in June. St. John’s beat top-ranked Villanova, 79-75, for its second win that week over a top-five team. (St. John’s had earlier snapped an 11-game losing streak by beating fourth-ranked Duke.)

    One year ago: President Joe Biden’s top science adviser Eric Lander resigned after the White House confirmed that an internal investigation found credible evidence that he mistreated his staff, marking the first Cabinet-level departure of the Biden administration.

    Today’s birthdays: Author Gay Talese is 91. Former Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wis., is 88. Sen. John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., is 71. Comedy writer Robert Smigel is 63. Actor James Spader is 63. Country singer Garth Brooks is 61. Rock musician David Bryan (Bon Jovi) is 61. Actor-comedian Eddie Izzard is 61. Actor-comedian Chris Rock is 58. Actor Jason Gedrick is 56. Actor Essence Atkins is 50. Rock singer-musician Wes Borland is 48. Rock musician Tom Blankenship (My Morning Jacket) is 45. Actor Ashton Kutcher is 45. Actor Tina Majorino is 38. Actor Deborah Ann Woll is 38. NBA player Isaiah Thomas is 34. NHL center Steven Stamkos is 33.

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  • China sanctions US individuals over action on Tibet

    China sanctions US individuals over action on Tibet

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    BEIJING — China has sanctioned two U.S. individuals in retaliation for action taken by Washington over human rights abuses in Tibet, the government said Friday, amid a continuing standoff between the sides over Beijing’s treatment of religious and ethnic minorities.

    The Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Todd Stein and Miles Yu Maochun, along with their close family members, would be banned from entering China.

    Any assets they had in China would be frozen and they would be barred from contact with people or organizations within China.

    The notice said the measures were in response to the U.S. sanctioning two Chinese individuals “under the excuse of the ‘Tibet human rights’ issue.” Neither could immediately be reached for comment.

    On Dec. 9, the U.S. imposed sanctions on Wu Yingjie, the top official in Tibet from 2016 to 2021, and Zhang Hongbo, the region’s police chief since 2018.

    “Our actions further aim to disrupt and deter the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) arbitrary detention and physical abuse of members of religious minority groups in the Tibetan Autonomous Region,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in announcing the sanctions.

    An accompanying Treasury Department notice said Wu had been responsible for “stability policies” in Tibet whose implementation involved “serious human rights abuse, including extrajudicial killings, physical abuse, arbitrary arrests, and mass detentions.”

    It said that during Zhang’s tenure, police have been engaged in serious human rights abuses, including “torture, physical abuse, and killings of prisoners, which included those arrested on religious and political grounds.”

    The Chinese announcement gave no specific accusations against Stein and Yu.

    Stein has been deputy staff director at the Congressional-Executive Commission on China since 2021 and previously served as senior advisor to Under Secretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy and Human Rights Sarah Sewall, including serving as her lead staffer on Tibetan issues. Previously, he was director of government relations at the monitoring group International Campaign for Tibet.

    The Chinese-born Yu is a senior academic who taught at the U.S. Naval Academy and a noted critic of the regime of Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping. He served as key China adviser under former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

    China in recent years has passed legislation mandating tit-for-tat sanctions against foreign individuals from the U.S., the EU and other countries over perceived slights against its national interests. Washington and others have compiled a long list of Chinese officials barred from visiting or engaging in transactions with their financial institutions ranging from the leader of the semi-autonomous city of Hong Kong to local officials accused of human rights abuses.

    China claims Tibet has been part of its territory for centuries, although backers of the exiled Buddhist leader the Dalai Lama say it was functionally independent for most of that time.

    Communist forces invaded in 1950 and China has ruled the Himalayan region with an iron fist ever since, imposing ever stricter surveillance and travel restrictions since the last uprising against Beijing’s rule in 2008. Lengthy prison sentences in dire conditions are imposed for acts of defiance, including defending the region’s unique language and Buddhist culture from attempts at assimilation.

    China has also been accused of detaining hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in reeducation camps as part of a campaign to wipe out their native language and culture, including through forced adoptions and sterilizations. China denies such charges, saying it has only been fighting terrorism, separatism and religious extremism.

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  • Australian visit to China raises hopes on trade, detainees

    Australian visit to China raises hopes on trade, detainees

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    CANBERRA, Australia — The first visit by an Australian foreign minister to China in four years is raising hopes that Australia will make progress on ending trade sanctions and freeing two Australian citizens detained in China.

    But Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong cautioned on Tuesday before leaving that some of the thorny issues between the countries will take time to resolve.

    Still, diplomacy experts welcomed the visit as a positive move following years of frosty relations.

    Wong will meet with her counterpart, Wang Yi, in Beijing this week as Australia and China mark 50 years of diplomatic relations. The visit will include a new round of talks on foreign and strategic issues after the talks were suspended in 2018.

    “There has been a lot of speculation in the last 24 hours or more about what will happen,” Wong told reporters. “I will say this: the expectation should be that we will have a meeting, and that dialogue itself is essential to stabilizing the relationship. Many of the hard issues in the relationship will take time to resolve in our interests.”

    She said she didn’t want to speculate on outcomes because it could have an impact on Australia’s leverage in the talks.

    “In relation to consular cases, to save you asking the question, obviously I will be raising consular cases, as I always do, just as I will continue to advocate for the trade impediments to be lifted,” Wong said.

    Australia has been pushing for the release of spy novelist Yang Hengjun, who China accused of espionage, and journalist Cheng Lei, who China accused of sharing state secrets.

    China does not recognize dual citizenship and Chinese-born defendants such as Yang and Cheng are often not afforded the same treatment as other foreign nationals, particularly when facing espionage charges.

    Wong’s trip signals a continued thaw in relations between the two nations since Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese won an election victory in May, replacing the more conservative Scott Morrison in the top role.

    Albanese and Chinese President Xi Jinping met on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit last month in Bali, the first such formal meeting between the leaders of the two nations in six years.

    Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said China hopes the visit will build on the momentum toward improved ties established at the Bali summit.

    China hopes the two countries will “push bilateral relations back to the right track and achieve sustainable development,” Mao said at a daily briefing this week.

    Relations between Australia and China have been poor for several years after China imposed trade barriers and refused high-level exchanges in response to Australia enacting rules targeting foreign interference in its domestic politics and calling for an independent inquiry into the COVID-19 pandemic.

    Jennifer Hsu, a research fellow at the Lowy Institute think tank, said the resumption of diplomatic dialogue was a welcome development.

    She said she could “see the wheels starting to move with regards to a number of issues pertaining to Australia and China.”

    “It would be great if a breakthrough happens but these things take time,” Hsu said.

    She noted that China could reap some economic benefit from relaxing its trade sanctions on Australian goods.

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  • Today in History: November 22, JFK is assassinated

    Today in History: November 22, JFK is assassinated

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    Today in History

    Today is Tuesday, Nov. 22, the 326th day of 2022. There are 39 days left in the year.

    Today’s Highlight in History:

    On Nov. 22, 1963, John F. Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States, was shot to death during a motorcade in Dallas; Texas Gov. John B. Connally, riding in the same car as Kennedy, was seriously wounded. Suspected gunman Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested. Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in as president.

    On this date:

    In 1718, English pirate Edward Teach — better known as “Blackbeard” — was killed during a battle off present-day North Carolina.

    In 1906, the “S-O-S” distress signal was adopted at the International Radio Telegraphic Convention in Berlin.

    In 1935, a flying boat, the China Clipper, took off from Alameda, California, carrying more than 100,000 pieces of mail on the first trans-Pacific airmail flight.

    In 1943, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek (chang ky-shehk) met in Cairo to discuss measures for defeating Japan.

    In 1967, the U.N. Security Council approved Resolution 242, which called for Israel to withdraw from territories it had captured the previous June, and implicitly called on adversaries to recognize Israel’s right to exist.

    In 1975, Juan Carlos was proclaimed King of Spain.

    In 1977, regular passenger service between New York and Europe on the supersonic Concorde began on a trial basis.

    In 1990, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, having failed to win reelection to the Conservative Party leadership on the first ballot, announced she would resign.

    In 1995, acting swiftly to boost the Balkan peace accord, the U.N. Security Council suspended economic sanctions against Serbia and eased the arms embargo against the states of the former Yugoslavia.

    In 2005, Angela Merkel (AHN’-geh-lah MEHR’-kuhl) took power as Germany’s first female chancellor.

    In 2010, thousands of people stampeded during a festival in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh, leaving some 350 dead and hundreds injured in what the prime minister called the country’s biggest tragedy since the 1970s reign of terror by the Khmer Rouge.

    In 2014, a 12-year-old Black boy, Tamir (tuh-MEER’) Rice, was shot and mortally wounded by police outside a Cleveland recreation center after brandishing what turned out to be a pellet gun. (A grand jury declined to indict either the patrolman who fired the fatal shot or a training officer.)

    Ten years ago: In a series of constitutional amendments, Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi granted himself sweeping new powers and placed himself above judicial oversight.

    Five years ago: Ratko Mladic, the Bosnian Serb general whose forces carried out the worst massacre in Europe since World War II, was convicted of genocide and other crimes by the United Nations’ Yugoslav war crimes tribunal and sentenced to life behind bars. A former confidant of ousted leader Robert Mugabe, Emmerson Mnangagwa, returned to Zimbabwe to become the next president a day after Mugabe resigned; he promised a “new, unfolding democracy.” Former sports doctor Larry Nassar, accused of molesting at least 125 girls and young women while working for USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University, pleaded guilty to multiple charges of sexual assault. (Nassar would be sentenced to 40 to 175 years in prison on those charges.)

    One year ago: A committee investigating the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol insurrection issued subpoenas to five more individuals, including former President Donald Trump’s ally Roger Stone and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, as lawmakers deepened their probe of the rallies that preceded the deadly attack. President Joe Biden said he was nominating Jerome Powell for a second term as Federal Reserve chair. The families of most of those killed and wounded in the 2018 Florida high school massacre said they had reached a multi-million dollar settlement with the federal government over the FBI’s failure to stop the gunman even though it had received information he intended to attack. A judge in Florida officially exonerated four Black men of the false accusation that they had raped a white woman seven decades earlier in Groveland, Florida.

    Today’s Birthdays: Animator and movie director Terry Gilliam is 82. Actor Tom Conti is 81. Singer Jesse Colin Young is 81. Astronaut Guion (GEYE’-uhn) Bluford is 80. International Tennis Hall of Famer Billie Jean King is 79. Rock musician-actor Steve Van Zandt (a.k.a. Little Steven) is 72. Rock musician Tina Weymouth (The Heads; Talking Heads; The Tom Tom Club) is 72. Retired MLB All-Star Greg Luzinski is 72. Rock musician Lawrence Gowan is 66. Actor Richard Kind is 66. Actor Jamie Lee Curtis is 64. Alt-country singer Jason Ringenberg (Jason & the Scorchers) is 64. Actor Mariel Hemingway is 61. Actor Winsor Harmon is 59. Actor-turned-producer Brian Robbins is 59. Actor Stephen Geoffreys is 58. Rock musician Charlie Colin is 56. Actor Nicholas Rowe is 56. Actor Mark Ruffalo is 55. International Tennis Hall of Famer Boris Becker is 55. Actor Sidse (SIH’-sa) Babett Knudsen is 54. Country musician Chris Fryar (Zac Brown Band) is 52. Actor Josh Cooke is 43. Actor-singer Tyler Hilton is 39. Actor Scarlett Johansson is 38. Actor Jamie Campbell Bower is 34. Singer Candice Glover (TV: “American Idol”) is 33. Actor Alden Ehrenreich is 33. Actor Dacre Montgomery is 28. Actor Mackenzie Lintz is 26.

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  • Australian PM wants to ask China’s Xi to lift trade barriers

    Australian PM wants to ask China’s Xi to lift trade barriers

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    CANBERRA, Australia — Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Friday he would ask Chinese President Xi Jinping to lift billions of dollars in trade barriers in the event that the two leaders hold their first bilateral meeting.

    Both leaders will attend a Group of 20 meeting in Indonesia and then an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum meeting in Thailand next week.

    Albanese was speaking in Sydney before departing Australia on Friday for an East Asia Summit in Cambodia, which Xi is not expected to attend.

    A face-to-face meeting between the Chinese and Australian leaders would mark a major reset in a bilateral relationship that plumbed new depths under the nine-year rule of Australia’s previous conservative government.

    Beijing had banned minister-to-minister contacts and imposed a series of official and unofficial trade barriers on products including wine, coal, beef, seafood and barley in recent years that cost Australian exporters 20 billion Australian dollars ($13 billion) a year.

    Albanese said a meeting with Xi was “not locked in at this point in time.”

    “We obviously will be attending the same conferences, or at least two of them (G-20 and APEC) over the next nine days. And I would welcome a meeting if it occurs over that time,” Albanese said.

    China lifting economic sanctions was the first priority in returning to normal relations, he said.

    “We have some AU$20 billion of economic sanctions against Australia. That is not in Australia’s interest in terms of our jobs and the economy, but it’s also not in China’s interest,” Albanese said.

    “Australia has world class products — in seafood, in meat, in wine, in other products that we export to China. It’s in China’s interest to receive those products, it’s in Australia’s interest to export them. So I’m very hopeful — we’ll continue to put our case that these sanctions are not justified, that they need to be removed,” Albanese added.

    Asked what China wanted from Australia to improve relations, Albanese replied: “It’s not up to me to put forward their case.”

    “What I want to see with the relationship with China is cooperation where we … maintain our Australian values where we must,” Albanese said.

    Bilateral relations soured over issues including Australian demands for an independent inquiry into the COVID-19 pandemic, a ban on Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei’s involvement in the Australian 5G networks on security grounds and recent laws that ban covert foreign interference in domestic politics.

    China’s Ambassador to Australia Xiao Qian said in August that Beijing would discuss with Australia whether conditions were right in November for Albanese to meet Xi during the G-20 summit.

    China’s People’s Daily English-language newspaper reported this week that “signs of resetting bilateral ties have emerged” since Albanese’s center-left Labor Party came to power in May.

    The White House has confirmed President Joe Biden will hold talks with Xi on Monday on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Indonesia, their first face-to-face meeting since Biden became president in January 2021.

    The meeting would come as competition for influence among South Pacific island nations heightens between China and the United States, with its allies including Australia, since Beijing struck a security pact with the Solomon Islands early this year that has raised fears of a Chinese naval base being established in the region.

    Albanese said Australia has “strategic competition in the region” with China.

    “China, of course, has changed its position. And it is much more forward-leaning than it was in the past,” Albanese said.

    “That has caused tensions in the relationship, and we need to acknowledge that that’s the context in which the relationship exists,” he added.

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  • Haiti gang leader to lift fuel blockade amid shortages

    Haiti gang leader to lift fuel blockade amid shortages

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    PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — A powerful gang leader announced Sunday that he was lifting a blockade at a key fuel terminal that has strangled Haiti’s capital for nearly two months.

    The announcement by Jimmy Cherizier, a former police officer nicknamed “Barbecue,” followed government claims of at least some success in efforts to reclaim the terminal, as well as a United Nations resolution targeting Cherizier with sanctions. But it remained unclear who actually controls the terminal and the surrounding area, and there had been no evidence that any fuel had been able to leave.

    In a speech posted on social media, Cherizier called on truck drivers to come and fill their tanks.

    “Drivers can come to the terminal without any fear,” he said.

    If fuel can leave, that would ease a crisis that began when Cherizier’s G9 gang federation seized control of the area surrounding a fuel depot in Port-au-Prince on Sept. 12 to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry.

    The gang’s blockade cut off access to about 10 millions gallons of diesel and gasoline and more than 800,000 gallons of kerosene, forcing gas stations to close, hospitals to cut back on critical services and banks and grocery stores to operate on a limited schedule.

    It also hindered efforts to cope with a cholera outbreak that has killed dozens and sickened thousands. Clinics have warned they were running out of fuel and had difficulty accessing potable water.

    Gunfire echoed from the area around the terminal on Thursday as Haiti’s National Police fought to reassert control. Police Chief Frantz Elbé said in a voicemail shared with The Associated Press on Friday: “We won a fight, but it is not over.”

    Official police social media accounts posted a video on Sunday with no sound stating officers were still “busy” at the terminal and saying “an important provision is taken to secure the perimeters.”

    Cherizier stressed that neither the gang nor anyone working on its behalf has negotiated anything with the prime minister, despite claims by some politicians to have done so.

    “This is a fight for a better life,” he said of the gang’s actions. “The situation has worsened. … We are not responsible for what happened to the country.”

    Cherizier then asked whether Haitians are happy with their living conditions, whether they feel safe, whether their children can go to school without being kidnapped and whether they have food and medical care.

    Many in the country of more than 11 million people are living in even deeper poverty at a time of double-digit inflation. Meanwhile, kidnappings and gang violence has increased following the July 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, forcing thousands of people to flee their homes.

    Spokespeople for Haiti’s National Police and the office of the prime minister could not be immediately reached for comment following Cherizier’s announcement.

    But some people on social media celebrated Cherizier’s announcement, referring to him as “Father” or “Mr. President.”

    In early September, Henry announced his administration could no longer afford to subsidize petroleum, leading to sharp increases in prices that unleashed large protests.

    On Oct. 7, almost a month after the blockade began, Henry requested the immediate deployment of foreign troops. The U.N. Security Council has yet to vote on the request, though it voted to impose sanctions on the gang leader himself.

    ———

    Associated Press writer Dánica Coto in San Juan, Puerto Rico contributed to this report.

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  • US sanctions Haitian politicians on drug trafficking claims

    US sanctions Haitian politicians on drug trafficking claims

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    WASHINGTON — Two Haitian politicians are facing U.S. sanctions over allegations they abused their positions to traffic drugs in collaboration with gang networks and directed others to engage in violence.

    The Treasury Department said Friday it was imposing sanctions on Haitian Senate President Joseph Lambert and former Sen. Youri Latortue. The two are accused of using their official roles to engage in the drug trade for decades. Lambert was also designated by the State Department for diplomatic sanctions and visa restrictions.

    Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement that “there is credible information of Lambert’s involvement in a gross violation of human rights, namely an extrajudicial killing, during his government tenure.”

    He said the State Department is also designating Lambert’s spouse, Jesula Lambert Domond.

    The sanctions mean their U.S. property is blocked and American people and companies that do business with them could face penalties as well.

    Spokespeople for Lambert and Latortue did not immediately return WhatsApp messages seeking comment on Friday.

    The sanctions against Lambert and Latortue come as Haiti is embroiled in political violence and economic crisis.

    Last month, Eric Jean Baptiste, a former presidential candidate and leader of a political party in Haiti, was shot to death in the capital, Port-au-Prince, along with his bodyguard. Baptiste’s death stunned many in the destabilized island nation.

    Brian Nelson, Treasury’s under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said Lambert and Latortue “abused their official positions to traffic drugs and collaborated with criminal and gang networks to undermine the rule of law in Haiti.”

    “The United States and our international partners,” Nelson said, “will continue to take action against those who facilitate drug trafficking, enable corruption and seek to profit from instability in Haiti.”

    ———

    Associated Press writer Danica Coto in San Juan, Puerto Rico, contributed to this story.

    ———

    Follow the AP’s coverage of Haiti at https://apnews.com/hub/haiti.

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  • Russia’s Iranian drones complicate Israel’s balancing act

    Russia’s Iranian drones complicate Israel’s balancing act

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    JERUSALEM — The Iranian-made drones that Russia sent slamming into central Kyiv this week have complicated Israel’s balancing act between Russia and the West.

    Israel has stayed largely on the sidelines since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last February so as not to damage its strategic relationship with the Kremlin. Although Israel has sent humanitarian aid to Ukraine, it has refused Kyiv’s frequent requests to send air defense systems and other military equipment and refrained from enforcing strict economic sanctions on Russia and the many Russian-Jewish oligarchs who have second homes in Israel.

    But with news of Moscow’s deepening ties with Tehran, Israel’s sworn foe, pressure is growing on Israel to back Ukraine in the grinding war. Israel has long fought a shadowy war with Iran across the Middle East by land, sea and air.

    Lt. Col. Richard Hecht, a military spokesman, said the suicide drone attack in Ukraine had raised new concerns in Israel.

    “We’re looking at it closely and thinking about how these can be used by the Iranians toward Israeli population centers,” he said.

    The debate burst into the open on Monday, as an Israeli Cabinet minister called on the government to take Ukraine’s side. Iran and its proxies in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen have threatened Israel with the same delta-shaped, low-flying Shahed drones now exploding in Kyiv.

    The Iranian government has denied providing Moscow with the drones, but American officials say it has been doing so since August.

    “There is no longer any doubt where Israel should stand in this bloody conflict,” Nachman Shai, Israel’s minister of diaspora affairs, wrote on Twitter. “The time has come for Ukraine to receive military aid as well, just as the USA and NATO countries provide.”

    His comments set off a storm in Russia. Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Telegram that providing military aid to Ukraine would be “a very reckless move” by Israel.

    “It will destroy all interstate relations between our countries,” he wrote.

    But Shai doubled down on Tuesday, while stressing his view did not reflect the government’s official stance.

    “We in Israel have a lot of experience in protecting our civilian population over 30 years. We’ve been attacked by missiles from Iraq and rockets from Lebanon and Gaza,” Shai, a former military spokesman, told The Associated Press. “I’m speaking about defense equipment to protect Ukraine’s civilian population.”

    The Israeli prime minister’s office and Defense Ministry both declined to comment.

    For years, Russia and Israel have enjoyed good working relations and closely coordinated to avoid run-ins in the skies over Syria, Israel’s northeastern neighbor, where Russian air power has propped up embattled President Bashar Assad. Russia has let Israeli jets bomb Iran-linked targets said to be weapons caches destined for Israel’s enemies.

    Israel has also been keen to stay neutral in the war over concern for the safety of the large Jewish community in Russia. Israel frets about renewed antisemitic attacks in the country, with its long history of anti-Jewish pogroms under Russian czars and purges in the Soviet era. Over 1 million of Israel’s 9.2 million citizens have roots in the former Soviet Union.

    Israel’s former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett maintained strict neutrality after the invasion, refraining from condemning Russia’s actions and even trying to position himself as a mediator in the conflict. As the U.S. and European Union piled sanctions on Russia, Bennett became the only Western leader to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.

    But in recent months, Israel’s cautious stance has grown more fraught.

    Prime Minister Yair Lapid, who took over as caretaker leader over the summer, has been more vocal than his predecessor. As foreign minister, he described reports of atrocities in Bucha, Ukraine as possible war crimes. After Russia bombarded Kyiv last week, he “strongly” condemned the attacks and sent “heartfelt condolences to the victims’ families and the Ukrainian people,” sparking backlash from Moscow.

    Tensions rose further when a Russian court in July ordered that the Jewish Agency, a major nonprofit that promotes Jewish immigration to Israel, close its offices in the country. Israel was rattled. A hearing to decide the future of the agency’s operations in Russia is set for Wednesday. “Anything could happen,” said Yigal Palmor, the agency’s spokesman.

    Now, Israeli alarm about the Iranian drones buzzing over Kyiv has heightened the debate.

    “I think Israel can help even more,” said Amos Yadlin, a former chief of Israeli military intelligence. He described Israel’s “knowledge on how to handle aerial attacks,” its “intelligence about Iranian weapons” and “ability to jam them” as potentially crucial to Ukraine.

    Iran is battle testing weapons that could be used against Israel’s northern and southern borders, argued Geoffrey Corn, an expert on the law of war at South Texas College of Law in Houston.

    Iran backs Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group and Hamas in the Gaza Strip — both of which have fought lengthy wars against Israel.

    If the drones prove effective in Ukraine, Iran will “double down on their development,” Corn said. If they are shot down, Iran will have an “opportunity to figure out how to bypass those countermeasures.”

    Israel’s air defense system, the Iron Dome, has boasted a 90% interception rate against incoming rocket fire from Gaza. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has hit out at Israel for not providing Kyiv with the anti-rocket system.

    Former Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky, a onetime Soviet dissident, criticized his country’s reluctance to help Ukraine in an interview with the Haaretz daily on Tuesday, deriding Israel as “the last country in the free world which is still afraid to irritate Putin.”

    Still, some insist that Israel must not enter the fray precisely because it differs from its Western allies.

    “We are not Germany or France,” said Uzi Rubin, a former head of Israel’s missile defense program. “We are a country at war.”

    ———

    Associated Press writers Eleanor Reich and Josef Federman in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

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  • North Korea says Kim supervised cruise missile tests

    North Korea says Kim supervised cruise missile tests

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    SEOUL, South Korea — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un supervised tests of long-range cruise missiles, which he described as a successful demonstration of his military’s expanding nuclear strike capabilities and readiness for “actual war,” state media said Thursday.

    Wednesday’s tests extended a record number of weapons demonstrations this year by North Korea, which has punctuated its testing activity with threats to preemptively use nuclear weapons against South Korea and the United States if it perceives its leadership as under threat.

    Analysts say Kim is exploiting the distraction created by Russia’s war on Ukraine, using it as a window to accelerate arms development as he pursues a full-fledged nuclear arsenal that could viably threaten regional U.S. allies and the American homeland.

    South Korean officials say Kim may also conduct a nuclear test in the coming weeks or months, escalating a pressure campaign aimed at forcing the United States to accept the idea of North Korea as a nuclear power that can negotiate economic and security concessions from a position of strength.

    North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said the two missiles during Wednesday’s tests flew for nearly three hours, drawing oval and figure eight-shaped patterns above its western seas, and showed that they can hit targets 2,000 kilometers (1,240 miles) away. The tests demonstrated the accuracy and war-fighting efficiency of the weapon system that has already been deployed at army units operating “tactical” battlefield nuclear weapons, the agency said.

    Kim after the tests praised the readiness of his nuclear combat forces, which he said were fully prepared for “actual war to bring enemies under their control at a blow” with various weapons systems that are “mobile, precise and powerful,” according to the report.

    He said that the tests send “another clear warning to enemies” and vowed to further expand the operational realm of his nuclear armed forces to “resolutely deter any crucial military crisis and war crisis at any time and completely take the initiative in it.”

    The missiles’ flight details and characteristics described in state media resembled what North Korea reported in January following the previous demonstration of its long-range cruise missile system, which was first revealed in September last year.

    State media photos of Wednesday’s test showed a missile leaving an orange tail of flame as it shot out of a launch vehicle. Kim is seen smiling and clapping from a viewing station established inside an arched structure that appears to be a highway tunnel. Experts say the North may intend to use such structures to conceal its weapons before launch.

    South Korea’s military didn’t immediately comment on the latest tests.

    The tests were the first known weapons demonstrations by North Korea after it launched 12 ballistic missiles in a span of two weeks through Oct. 9 in what it described as simulated nuclear attacks on South Korean and U.S. targets. Those weapons included a new intermediate range ballistic missile that flew over Japan while demonstrating potential range to reach Guam, a major U.S. military hub in the Pacific, and a short-range missile fired from an unspecified platform inside an inland reservoir.

    North Korea said those drills were meant as a warning to Seoul and Washington for staging “dangerous” joint naval exercises involving the nuclear-powered U.S. aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan in recent weeks, which were intended as the allies’ show of strength in the face of growing North Korean threats.

    Concerns about Kim’s expanding nuclear arsenal has grown since his rubber-stamp parliament last month passed a new law that authorized preemptive use of nuclear weapons over a broad range of scenarios, including non-war situations, where it may perceive its leadership as under threat. South Korea’s military has since warned North Korea that it would “self-destruct” if it uses its bombs by triggering an “overwhelming” response from the allies.

    While Kim’s intercontinental ballistic missiles targeting the American homeland have gathered much international attention, he has also been expanding his arsenal of shorter-range weapons aimed at overwhelming missile defenses in South Korea. The North describes some of those weapons as “tactical,” which experts say communicate a threat to arm them with small battlefield nukes and proactively use them during conflicts to blunt the stronger conventional forces of South Korea and the United States, which stations about 28,500 troops in the South.

    North Korea has fired more than 40 ballistic and cruise missiles over more than 20 launch events this year, exploiting a divide in the U.N. Security Council deepened over Russia’s war on Ukraine. The council’s permanent members Moscow and Beijing have rejected U.S.-led proposals to impose tighter sanctions on Pyongyang over its intensified testing activity. Experts say the North’s next nuclear test, which would be its seventh overall since 2006, is likely to be the first that the Security Council fails to meet with new sanctions.

    Nuclear negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang have stalled since early 2019 over disagreements in exchanging the release of crippling U.S.-led sanctions against the North and the North’s denuclearization steps.

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  • Live Updates: Russia-Ukraine War

    Live Updates: Russia-Ukraine War

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    KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine’s State Emergency Service says that 12 S-300 missiles have slammed into public facilities in Zaporizhzhia, setting off a large fire in the area.

    It says that one person was killed in the attack early Tuesday.

    The S-300 was originally designed as a long-range surface-to-air missile. Russia has increasingly resorted to using repurposed versions of the weapon to strike targets on the ground.

    ———

    KEY DEVELOPMENTS:

    Missiles hit Ukrainian city, alarms elsewhere keep up fear

    Kremlin war hawks demand more devastating strikes on Ukraine

    Worried UN meets on Ukraine hours after Russian strikes

    Hong Kong nixes US sanctions on Russian-owned superyacht

    Follow all AP stories on the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

    ———

    PRAGUE — The presidents of NATO members in central and eastern Europe are condemning Monday’s Russian strikes on Ukrainian cities and saying that they “constitute war crimes under international law.”

    The presidents of the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Montenegro said in a statement that war crimes and crimes against humanity aren’t subject to any statute of limitations and are covered by the “jurisdiction of courts all over the world.”

    They demanded that Russia immediately stop attacking civilian targets and said that “We will not cease our efforts to bring to court persons responsible of yesterday’s crimes.” The presidents said that “any threats by Russian representatives to use nuclear weapons” are unacceptable.

    ———

    KYIV, Ukraine — Air raid warnings throughout Ukraine have sent some residents back into shelters after months of relative calm in the capital and many other cities. That lull had led many Ukrainians to ignore the regular sirens, but Monday’s attacks gave them new urgency.

    Besides the usual sirens, Kyiv residents were jolted early Tuesday by a new type of loud alarm that blared automatically from mobile phones. The caustic-sounding alert was accompanied by a text warning of the possibility of missile strikes.

    The Ukrainian Air Force said Russian Tu-95 and Tu-160 bombers operating over the Caspian Sea launched missiles over Ukrainian territory around 7 a.m. Tuesday. It did not provide information about the targets.

    It said four inbound missiles were shot down by the Ukrainian southern air command around 9 a.m.

    The governor of the Vinnytsia region, Serhiy Borzov, said there was an air strike there in the morning. There was no word on casualties.

    ———

    BERLIN — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz says he plans to discuss how to bring down soaring fossil fuel prices with his counterparts in the Group of Seven industrial powers.

    Scholz told a conference of Germany’s machinery industry Tuesday that “the very first task must be to ensure that the prices for fossil resources, for gas, for oil and coal come back down.” But he noted that can’t be done unilaterally.

    Scholz said he plans to bring up “mutual responsibility,” particularly on gas prices, in all his international talks — including at a videoconference of G-7 leaders planned later Tuesday.

    He said that “we need a negotiated process in which prices sink to a sensible level again.” Scholz said that it was the same idea that led to the foundation of the G-7 in the 1970s.

    ———

    MOSCOW — The speaker of the lower house of Russian parliament has likened the Ukrainian president to former al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.

    State Duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin asserted Tuesday that “the Kyiv regime has become a terrorist one,” pointing to the weekend attack on a bridge linking Russia with Crimea, which it annexed from Ukraine 2014, other attacks and the killings of public figures in Ukraine and Russia.

    He said that Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has “put himself on par with Osama bin Laden and other international terrorists.”

    Volodin argued that “Western politicians supporting Zelenskyy’s regime are effectively sponsoring terrorism.” He added that there is “a rule known worldwide: there can be no talks with terrorists.”

    ———

    MOSCOW — A senior Russian diplomat has issued a new warning to the U.S. and its allies that their support for Ukraine could draw them into an open conflict with Russia.

    Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said that Western military assistance to Kyiv, the training of Ukrainian personnel in NATO countries, and the provision of real-time satellite data allowing the Ukrainian military to designate targets for artillery strikes have “increasingly drawn Western nations into the conflict on the part of the Kyiv regime.”

    He warned in remarks carried by the state RIA-Novosti news agency that “Russia will be forced to take relevant countermeasures, including asymmetrical ones.”

    Ryabkov added that “Russia isn’t interested in a direct clash with the U.S. and NATO, and we hope that Washington and other Western capitals are aware of the danger of an uncontrollable escalation.”

    ———

    LONDON — The head of GCHQ, Britain’s electronic intelligence agency, says Russia is running short of weapons and its troops are “exhausted.”

    Jeremy Fleming said Tuesday that “we believe Russia is running short of munitions.”

    Fleming is due to give a public speech later, arguing that Russian President Vladimir Putin has made “strategic errors in judgment” throughout the war.

    According to GCHQ, he will say that “we know – and Russian commanders on the ground know – that their supplies and munitions are running out.”

    “Russia’s forces are exhausted. The use of prisoners to reinforce, and now the mobilization of tens of thousands of inexperienced conscripts, speaks of a desperate situation.”

    GCHQ did not disclose the sources of its intelligence.

    ———

    KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine’s State Emergencies Service says that 19 people were killed and 105 others were wounded in Monday’s Russian missile strikes across Ukraine.

    It said Tuesday that critical infrastructure facilities were hit in Kyiv and 12 other regions, and 301 cities and towns were without power.

    Russia on Monday retaliated for an attack on a critical bridge by unleashing its most widespread strikes against Ukraine in months. They hit at least 14 regions, from Lviv in the west to Kharkiv in the east. Many of the attacks occurred far from the war’s front lines.

    ———

    TALLINN, Estonia — Moscow’s barrage of missile strikes on cities across Ukraine has elicited celebratory comments from Russian officials and pro-Kremlin pundits, who in recent weeks have actively criticized the Russian military for a series of embarrassing setbacks on the battlefield.

    Commentators lauded Monday’s large-scale attack as an appropriate and long-awaited response to Kyiv’s successful counteroffensives and a weekend attack on a key bridge between Russia and the annexed Crimean Peninsula.

    Many argued, however, that Moscow should keep up the intensity of the strikes in order to win the war. Some analysts suggested that President Vladimir Putin is becoming a hostage of his own allies’ views on how the military campaign in Ukraine should unfold.

    ———

    HONG KONG — Hong Kong leader John Lee says he will only implement United Nations sanctions, after the U.S. warned the territory’s status as a financial center could be affected if it acts as a safe haven for sanctioned individuals.

    Lee’s statement Tuesday came days after a luxury yacht connected to Russian tycoon Alexey Mordashov docked in the city.

    Mordashov, who is believed to have close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, was sanctioned by the U.S., U.K. and the European Union in February after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Hong Kong authorities have said that they do not implement unilateral sanctions imposed by other governments.

    “We cannot do anything that has no legal basis,” Lee told reporters. “We will comply with United Nations sanctions, that is our system, that is our rule of law,” he said.

    A U.S. State Department spokesperson said in a statement Monday that “the possible use of Hong Kong as a safe haven by individuals evading sanctions from multiple jurisdictions further calls into question the transparency of the business environment.”

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  • Hong Kong nixes US sanctions on Russian-owned superyacht

    Hong Kong nixes US sanctions on Russian-owned superyacht

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    HONG KONG — Hong Kong’s leader John Lee said Tuesday he will only implement United Nations sanctions, after the U.S. warned the territory’s status as a financial center could be affected if it acts as a safe haven for sanctioned individuals.

    Lee’s statement Tuesday came days after a luxury yacht connected to Russian tycoon Alexey Mordashov docked in the city.

    Mordashov, who is believed to have close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, was sanctioned by the U.S., U.K. and the European Union in February after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Hong Kong authorities have said that they do not implement unilateral sanctions imposed by other governments.

    “We cannot do anything that has no legal basis,” Lee told reporters. “We will comply with United Nations sanctions, that is our system, that is our rule of law,” he said.

    A U.S. State Department spokesperson said in a statement Monday that “the possible use of Hong Kong as a safe haven by individuals evading sanctions from multiple jurisdictions further calls into question the transparency of the business environment.”

    The State Department spokesperson also said the city’s reputation as a financial center “depends on its adherence to international laws and standards” and that U.S. companies “increasingly view Hong Kong’s business environment with wariness” due to an erosion of Hong Kong’s once high degree of autonomy and its freedoms.

    The $500-million superyacht Nord, allegedly owned by Mordashov, moored in Hong Kong’s harbor on Wednesday following a weeklong journey from the Russian city of Vladivostok.

    Mordashov is one of Russia’s richest men, with an estimated wealth of about $18 billion. He also is the main shareholder and chairman of Severstal, Russia’s largest steel and mining company. Mordashov has tried to challenge the sanctions against him in European courts.

    U.S. and European authorities have seized over a dozen yachts belonging to sanctioned Russian tycoons to prevent them from sailing to other ports that are not affected by the sanctions. So Russian oligarchs have begun docking their yachts at ports in places like Turkey, which has maintained diplomatic ties with Russia since the war began.

    The Nord measures 141.6 meters (464.6 feet), has two helipads, a swimming pool and 20 cabins. It is operating under a Russian flag.

    Beijing sets foreign policy for Hong Kong and has demurred from participating in sanctions against Russia for its attack on Ukraine.

    Britain handed control over its colony Hong Kong to China in 1997, promising to respect its semi-autonomous status as a separate economic and customs territory. The semi-autonomous city’s status as an international business hub and financial center has suffered in recent years after Beijing imposed a tough national security law on the city, aimed primarily at stamping out dissent following months of antigovernment protests in 2019.

    Critics say the security law, which in certain cases allows for suspects to be transferred to mainland China for trial in its opaque legal system, could threaten Hong Kong’s rule of law.

    Following passage of the law in 2020, the United States sanctioned Lee, then Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam and other Hong Kong and mainland Chinese government officials, for “undermining Hong Kong’s autonomy and restricting the freedom of expression or assembly.”

    Lee blasted the ban on personal and official travel to the U.S. and access to the American financial system.

    He was responding to a question of whether he is paid in cash, as was the case for Lam, who was also placed under U.S. sanctions that limit the ability of those designated for such penalties to transfer funds across national boundaries or convert them into different currencies.

    “The second thing about the so-called sanction imposed on people in Hong Kong without justification, it is a very barbaric act, and I’m not going to comment on the effect of such barbaric act, because officials in Hong Kong do what is right to protect the interests of the country, and the interests of Hong Kong, so we will just laugh off the so-called sanctions,” Lee said.

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  • Pro-Russian groups are raising funds in crypto to prop up military operations and evade U.S. sanctions

    Pro-Russian groups are raising funds in crypto to prop up military operations and evade U.S. sanctions

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    Pro-Russian groups are raising funds in cryptocurrency to prop up paramilitary operations and evade U.S. sanctions as the war with Ukraine wages on, a research report published Monday revealed.

    As of Sept. 22, these fundraising groups had raised $400,000 in cryptocurrency since the start of the invasion on Feb. 24, according to TRM Labs, a digital asset compliance and risk management company.

    The research revealed that groups, using encrypted messaging app Telegram, are offering ways for people to send funds which are used to supply Russian-affiliated militia groups and support combat training at locations close to the border with Ukraine.

    One group TRM Labs identified raising funds is Task Force Rusich which the U.S. Treasury describes as a “neo-Nazi paramilitary group that has participated in combat alongside Russia’s military in Ukraine.” The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFCA) has sanctioned Task Force Rusich.

    On a Telegram channel, TRM Labs discovered this group was looking to raise money for items such as thermal imaging equipment and radios.

    Russian paramilitary groups are raising funds in cryptocurrency using messaging app Telegram, according to research published by TRM Labs.

    Matt Cardy | Getty Images News | Getty Images

    The Novorossia Aid Coordinating Center, which was set up in 2014 to support Russian operations in Ukraine, raised about $21,000 in cryptocurrency, mainly bitcoin, with the aim of buying drones, the report said.

    Russia was hit by a number of sanctions after its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine earlier this year that aimed to cut it off from the global financial system. At the time, there were concerns that Russia could use cryptocurrency to evade these penalties. However, experts said that there is not enough liquidity in the crypto system on the scale Russia would require to move money.

    But with the paramilitary groups, they’re moving money on a smaller scale, which is enough for the items they need to buy.

    These groups are likely using exchanges that don’t necessarily comply with anti-money laundering and other regulations, according to Ari Redbord, head of legal and government affairs at TRM Labs.

    “They’re probably using non-compliant exchanges to off-ramp those funds [into fiat currency],” Redbord told CNBC.

    “And you can do that. You just can’t do that at scale. And I think that’s that that’s where … we’ll say, will there be more? Of course, there’ll be more. But will it be billions of dollars? Highly unlikely.”

    Redbord said TRM Labs used a combination of publicly available wallet addresses as well as cross-checking other websites and activity online to identify the Russian-linked groups. However, he did say it’s not possible to know whether these groups were working with the Russian government or are in any way backed by the Kremlin.

    Cryptocurrencies have been thrust into the spotlight during the Russia and Ukraine war. Ukraine has been seeking donations via digital coins, which can be sent quickly across the world. But they’re now also being used by Russian paramilitary groups.

    “I think an interesting part of this story is that crypto is just a form of payment in these cases. It’s a way to move funds. And there’s an example of it being used for good and example of it being used for bad in this context,” Redbord said.

    Could Russia's war on Ukraine escalate into a global cyberwar?

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