Ukraine/Russia-Related
Russia is engaged in a broad range of malign activities globally, including interference in elections, ongoing aggression towards Ukraine, providing support to the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria and the Maduro regime in Venezuela, engaging in malicious cyber activity, committing human rights abuses, and assisting North Korea in evading United Nations and U.S. sanctions. The Ukraine/Russia-related sanctions program is a key tool in the U.S. government’s effort to disrupt and deter Russia’s malign activities on these various fronts, and to impose long-term costs on the Russian government for these activities. U.S. persons are not prohibited from engaging in transactions involving the country or people of Russia, provided that the transactions do not involve the Crimea region of Ukraine, blocked persons, or proscribed conduct. While the Crimea region of Ukraine is comprehensively blocked pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13685, OFAC maintains several general license authorizations designed to provide humanitarian relief and assistance to the Ukrainian people.
General Licenses (GLs) and Specific Licensing: The following are GLs issued by OFAC related to humanitarian assistance and trade with the Crimea region of Ukraine.
• General License 4, issued pursuant to E.O. 13685, authorizes the exportation or reexportation from the U.S., or by a U.S. person, wherever located, of certain agricultural commodities, medicine, and medical supplies to the Crimea region of Ukraine, or to persons in third countries purchasing specifically for resale to the Crimea region of Ukraine, with certain exceptions as further described in General License 4.
• General License 6, issued pursuant to E.O. 13685, authorizes U.S. persons to transfer funds to or from the Crimea region of Ukraine or for or on behalf of an individual ordinarily resident in the Crimea region of Ukraine in cases in which the transfer involves a noncommercial, personal remittance, provided the transfer is not by, to, or through a person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to E.O.s 13660, 13661, 13662, or 13685.
• Specific Licensing: For transactions not otherwise authorized by OFAC general licenses, OFAC considers specific license requests on a case-by-case basis and prioritizes license applications, compliance questions, and other requests related to humanitarian support for the Ukrainian people.