§8908 — Title 22 Foreign Relations and Intercourse | U.S. Code

Summary

The President must punish Russian officials, their close associates or family, and anyone who helps them if, on or after August 2, 2017, the President finds they took part in serious corruption. This covers things like taking public or private property for personal gain, corruption tied to government deals or resource extraction, bribery, or moving the proceeds of corruption to other countries. The main punishments are blocking and freezing any of their property that is in the United States or controlled by U.S. persons, and denying or canceling visas for foreign nationals. People who break rules about those blocks face civil and criminal penalties like those in U.S. emergency economic law. The blocking power does not include banning imports of goods (with "goods" meaning the legal definition in Title 50). Visa denials do not apply if letting someone in is needed for the United States to meet the U.N. Headquarters agreement made June 26, 1947 (effective November 21, 1947). The President can waive or lift these sanctions in certain cases. A waiver can be used if it is in U.S. national security, but the President must send a notice and explanation to the Senate committees on Foreign Relations and on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs and to the House committees on Foreign Affairs and on Financial Services before the waiver starts. Sanctions can be ended if the person stops the corrupt acts and gives reliable assurances they will not do them again, with notice to the appropriate congressional committees. An initial waiver for a person is allowed only if the President gives a written finding that it is vital to national security or will help enforce the law, and certifies that Russia is taking steps to implement the Minsk agreements (February 11, 2015 and the Minsk Protocol of September 5, 2014). The President must also issue any regulations, licenses, or orders needed to enforce these rules.

Title 22, §8908

Foreign Relations and Intercourse — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)The President shall impose the sanctions described in subsection (b) with respect to—

(1)any official of the Government of the Russian Federation, or a close associate or family member of such an official, that the President determines is, on or after August 2, 2017, responsible for, or complicit in, or responsible for ordering, controlling, or otherwise directing, acts of significant corruption in the Russian Federation or elsewhere, including the expropriation of private or public assets for personal gain, corruption related to government contracts or the extraction of natural resources, bribery, or the facilitation or transfer of the proceeds of corruption to foreign jurisdictions; and

(2)any individual who has materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services in support of, an act described in paragraph (1).

(b)(1)The sanctions described in this subsection are the following:

(A)The exercise of all powers granted to the President by the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) to the extent necessary to block and prohibit all transactions in all property and interests in property of a person determined by the President to be subject to subsection (a) if such property and interests in property are in the United States, come within the United States, or are or come within the possession or control of a United States person.

(B)In the case of an alien determined by the President to be subject to subsection (a), denial of a visa to, and exclusion from the United States of, the alien, and revocation in accordance with section 1201(i) of title 8, of any visa or other documentation of the alien.

(2)A person that violates, attempts to violate, conspires to violate, or causes a violation of paragraph (1)(A) or any regulation, license, or order issued to carry out paragraph (1)(A) shall be subject to the penalties set forth in subsections (b) and (c) of section 206 of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1705) to the same extent as a person that commits an unlawful act described in subsection (a) of that section.

(3)(A)The authority to block and prohibit all transactions in all property and interests in property under paragraph (1)(A) shall not include the authority to impose sanctions on the importation of goods.

(B)In this paragraph, the term “good” has the meaning given that term in section 4618 11 See References in Text note below. of title 50 (as continued in effect pursuant to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.)).

(4)Sanctions under paragraph (1)(B) shall not apply to an alien if admitting the alien into the United States is necessary to permit the United States to comply with the Agreement regarding the Headquarters of the United Nations, signed at Lake Success June 26, 1947, and entered into force November 21, 1947, between the United Nations and the United States, or other applicable international obligations.

(c)except 22 So in original. Probably should be capitalized. as provided in subsection (d), the President may waive the application of sanctions under subsection (b) with respect to a person if the President—

(1)determines that such a waiver is in the national security interests of the United States; and

(2)on or before the date on which the waiver takes effect, submits to the Committee on Foreign Relations and the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Committee on Financial Services of the House of Representatives a notice of and a justification for the waiver.

(d)Subject to section 9511 of this title, the President may terminate the application of sanctions under subsection (b) with respect to a person if the President submits to the appropriate congressional committees a notice that—

(1)the person is not engaging in the activity that was the basis for the sanctions or has taken significant verifiable steps toward stopping the activity; and

(2)the President has received reliable assurances that the person will not knowingly engage in activity subject to sanctions under subsection (a) in the future.

(e)The President may waive the initial application of sanctions under subsection (b) with respect to a person only if the President submits to the appropriate congressional committees—

(1)a written determination that the waiver—

(A)is in the vital national security interests of the United States; or

(B)will further the enforcement of this chapter; and

(2)a certification that the Government of the Russian Federation is taking steps to implement the Minsk Agreement to address the ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine, signed in Minsk, Belarus, on February 11, 2015, by the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, France, and Germany, the Minsk Protocol, which was agreed to on September 5, 2014, and any successor agreements that are agreed to by the Government of Ukraine.

(e)The President shall issue such regulations, licenses, and orders as are necessary to carry out this section.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

The International Emergency Economic Powers Act, referred to in subsec. (b)(1)(A), (3)(B), is title II of Pub. L. 95–223, Dec. 28, 1977, 91 Stat. 1626, which is classified generally to chapter 35 (§ 1701 et seq.) of Title 50, War and National Defense. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see

Short Title

note set out under section 1701 of Title 50 and Tables. Section 4618 of title 50, referred to in subsec. (b)(3)(B), was repealed by Pub. L. 115–232, div. A, title XVII, § 1766(a), Aug. 13, 2018, 132 Stat. 2232. Codification section 227 and 230(b) of Pub. L. 115–44, which directed the amendment of section 9 of the “Sovereignty, Integrity, Democracy, and Economic Stability of Ukraine Act of 2014”, were executed to this section, which is section 9 of the Support for the Sovereignty, Integrity, Democracy, and Economic Stability of Ukraine Act of 2014, to reflect the probable intent of Congress. See 2017 Amendment notes below.

Amendments

2017—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 115–44, § 227(1)(A), substituted “shall” for “is authorized and encouraged to” in introductory provisions. See Codification note above. Subsec. (a)(1). Pub. L. 115–44, § 227(1)(B), substituted “President determines is, on or after August 2, 2017,” for “President determines is” and inserted “or elsewhere” after “in the Russian Federation”. See Codification note above. Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 115–44, § 227(3), substituted “except as provided in subsection (d), the President” for “The President” in introductory provisions. See Codification note above. Subsecs. (d), (e). Pub. L. 115–44, § 230(b), added subsec. (d) and redesignated former subsec. (d), relating to application of new sanctions, as (e). See Codification note above. Pub. L. 115–44, § 227(2), (4), added subsec. (d) and redesignated former subsec. (d), relating to regulatory authority, as (e). See Codification note above.

§8908 Sanctions on persons in the Russian Federation complicit in or responsible for significant corruption