Sanctions Tracker – Australia Update on Sanctions Responses to the situation in Ukraine

We previously discussed the Ukraine-related sanctions measures in Australia on 23 February and 25 February. Since then, Australia has extended its sanctions to additional individuals and entities in Russia and Belarus in response to the evolving political situation in Ukraine.

Sanctions imposed on individuals and entities

On 25-27 February 2022, Australia implemented additional sanctions against individuals and entities under the Autonomous Sanctions Regulations 2011 (Cth).[1] These sanctions came into effect the following day, on 26-28 February 2022. The sanctions:

1. prohibit assets being made available, either directly or indirectly, to, or for the benefit of, a designated person or entity;
2. require persons holding assets that are owned or controlled by a designated person or entity to freeze that asset;
3. prohibit designated persons from travelling to or entering Australia.

These sanctions target:

• Five senior members of the Russian Government, including President Vladimir Putin, and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.[2]
• 339 members of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation who voted in favour of recognising the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk as independent republics.[3]
• Eight individuals holding senior leadership positions in banks, social media oil, gas and transport companies and companies that support the Russian military.[4]
• The Belarusian Minister of Defence, Viktor Khrenin, and the Secretary of the Security Council of the Republic of Belarus, Aleksander Volfovich.[5]
• Five individuals and six entities with close links to the Belarusian Armed Forces, Russian military, or in senior leadership positions in companies that provide software that supports the use of surveillance and facial recognition technology for the identification, apprehension, and persecution of protestors by the Belarusian and Russian governments.[6]

Further sanctions expected

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has stated that Australia will continue to coordinate its sanctions response with the US, UK and EU.

In a joint press release dated 28 February 2022, Scott Morrison with the Treasurer, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Women, and Minister for Defence, has foreshadowed that Australia will implement further sanctions against key Russian banks, institutions and individuals. They stated:

“The Australian Government strongly supports the announcements by the European Commission, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States on further restrictive economic measures against key Russian banks, institutions and individuals.

These measures include:

• removal of selected Russian banks from the SWIFT global payments messaging system
• restrictive measures to prevent the Russian Central Bank from using its international reserves in a way that undermines sanctions
• limiting so-called golden passports for wealthy Russians connected to the Russian government
• a trans-Atlantic task force to identify and freeze the assets of sanctioned individuals and companies that exist within their jurisdictions.

While we expect that the SWIFT measures as announced will be implemented at a global level, we will take complementary steps as required.” [7]

SWIFT is the principal system for financing international trade, providing a secure messaging system for cross-border payments between participating banks.

We will continue to monitor developments in this area and encourage you to subscribe to be kept informed of latest developments. Please contact the authors or your usual Herbert Smith Freehills contacts for more information.

[1] Autonomous Sanctions (Designated Persons and Entities and Declared Persons—Russia and Ukraine) Amendment (No. 1) Instrument 2022 (26 February 2022); Autonomous Sanctions (Designated Persons and Entities and Declared Persons—Russia and Ukraine) Amendment (No. 2) Instrument 2022 (27 February 2022); Autonomous Sanctions (Designated Persons and Entities and Declared Persons—Ukraine) Amendment (No. 4) Instrument 2022 (25 February 2022)

[2] Autonomous Sanctions (Designated Persons and Entities and Declared Persons—Russia and Ukraine) Amendment (No. 2) Instrument 2022 (27 February 2022)

[3] Autonomous Sanctions (Designated Persons and Entities and Declared Persons—Ukraine) Amendment (No. 4) Instrument 2022 (25 February 2022)

[4] Autonomous Sanctions (Designated Persons and Entities and Declared Persons—Ukraine) Amendment (No. 4) Instrument 2022 (25 February 2022)

[5] Autonomous Sanctions (Designated Persons and Entities and Declared Persons—Russia and Ukraine) Amendment (No. 1) Instrument 2022 (26 February 2022)

[6] Autonomous Sanctions (Designated Persons and Entities and Declared Persons—Russia and Ukraine) Amendment (No. 1) Instrument 2022 (26 February 2022)

[7] Prime Minister, Treasurer, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Women, Minister for Defence, ‘Economic Measures Against Russia And Lethal Military Equipment For Ukraine’ (Media Statement, 28 February 2022) available at <https://www.pm.gov.au/media/economic-measures-against-russia-and-lethal-military-equipment-ukraine>.