#SANCTIONS

Georgia has been accused of torture and summary detentions.

A Russian politician appointed by President Vladimir Putin as governor of Russia-annexed Crimea’s largest city was jailed for 40 months on Friday after being found guilty of breaching British sanctions, the first such conviction in Britain.

A former regional governor in Russian-annexed Crimea has been convicted of violating recent UK sanctions on Moscow, in the first legal case of its kind.

Western exports to Russia via China and Hong Kong have increased in recent years, a new report has found, despite sanctions imposed on Russia owing to the invasion of Ukraine.

Hungary’s government is “on Putin’s team” when it comes to attitudes to the war in Ukraine, according to Estonia’s foreign minister.

The Czech government has expelled a Prague-based Belarusian journalist, accusing her of being “a key collaborator of the Russian military intelligence service.”

The U.K. has imposed sanctions on a network of pro-Russian operatives it claims was responsible for an attempt to rig a referendum on Moldova joining the European Union.

Russia’s Gazprom and its subsidiary own 56% of shares in Serbia’s only refinery.

Brussels has said that only a complete Russian withdrawal from Ukraine would result in EU sanctions on Moscow being lifted or amended, denting U.S. President Donald Trump’s hopes of a quick ceasefire deal.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday that he is “strongly considering” imposing sanctions, including ones on banking, and tariffs on Russia until a ceasefire and peace agreement is reached with Ukraine.

Britain will hit Russia with a fresh wave of sanctions as part of a broader response to mark the third anniversary of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

The EU has boosted its support for Ukraine by agreeing to a new set of sanctions against Russia ahead of a flurry of meetings in Brussels, Kyiv and Washington this week.

Hungary will not support an extension of EU sanctions on Russia in a vote on Monday, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó has said.

Norwegian ships transporting fish from Russia to European docks are driving increased trade at the major logistics hub of Murmansk, reports The Barents Observer.

The new U.S. administration has disbanded a specialist unit that enforced sanctions on oligarchs linked to the Russian government, according to media reports.

European Union foreign ministers have unanimously agreed to renew the bloc's wide-ranging sanctions on Russia, imposed over the war in Ukraine, after Hungary lifted its veto.

A Finnish court on Friday denied a request for the release of an oil tanker suspected by police of damaging an undersea power line and four telecommunications cables in the Baltic Sea last week.

The United States on Friday sanctioned Georgian billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, a former prime minister widely seen as the country's de facto leader, saying he was undermining democracy and allowing Russia to benefit.

EU sanctions against Russia are inflicting significant damage on its economy, Ursula von der Leyen has claimed.

The United States hit North Korea and Russia on Monday with new sanctions, targeting Pyongyang's financial and military support for Moscow, as well as its ballistic missile program, the U.S. Treasury has said.