A Russian government delegation and U.N. representatives will carry out the next round of negotiations on implementing the agreement that promotes Russian products and fertilizers on the global markets, Russian government news agency Tass said. The meeting, set for May 5, will take place the same date as the deputy defense ministers of Turkey, Russia and Ukraine are due for a discussion on the extension of the Black Sea crop export corridor, Bloomberg reported May 3. The Ukraine grain deal has allowed nearly 30 million tons of Ukrainian crops to be shipped since its signing in July.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned two financial facilitators of sanctioned Syria-based terrorist groups Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and Katibat al-Tawhid wal-Jihad (KTJ). The designations, imposed alongside the Turkish government, target Omar Alsheak, a senior HTS leader, and Istanbul-based Kubilay Sari, who works on KTJ fundraisers to buy weapons systems, including firearms and mortars.

The Spanish government found no evidence in an initial inquiry to justify claims that the country imported Russian diesel in violation of sanctions, said Teresa Ribera, Spain's energy minister, Bloomberg reported April 28. The nation's largest oil refiner, Repsol, complained that several tankers recently imported fuel via North Africa and Turkey in violation of restrictions on Russia. While the inquiry's initial findings did not find any trace of sanctions violations, the government will continue looking into the matter, Ribera said.

The State Department approved a potential military sale to Turkey worth about $259 million, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said April 17. The sale includes defense articles and services to “support upgrading its current fleet of F-16 aircraft.” The principal contractor will be Lockheed Martin Aeronautics.

The EU extended the antidumping duties on stainless steel hot-rolled coils from Indonesia to imports of the same goods from Turkey. The move comes after an anti-circumvention investigation revealed that the Indonesian imports were skirting the duties via Turkey. "The extension of anti-dumping measures to SSHR from Turkiye is necessary in order to enforce the trade defence measures in place since October 2020 on imports of SSHR from Indonesia, China and Taiwan," the European Commission said April 18.

The U.S. this week announced new Russia-related trade restrictions, adding 28 entities to the Commerce Department’s Entity List and more than 100 entries to the Treasury Department’s Specially Designated Nationals List. The measures target people and companies either operating in Russia, aiding the country’s war against Ukraine or helping Moscow evade sanctions.

The U.S. announced new measures against people and companies helping Russia evade sanctions, adding 28 entities to the Commerce Department’s Entity List and more than 50 new entries to the Treasury Department’s Specially Designated Nationals List. The Entity List additions, effective April 12, include companies in China, Armenia, Malta, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Syria, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Uzbekistan, all of which have supported Russia’s military or defense industrial base. New designations imposed by Treasury and the State Department target people and companies operating in Russia or that are aiding Moscow's war effort and its imports of “critical technologies."

World Trade Organization members elected New Zealand's Clare Kelly to serve as the new head of the Committee on Regional Trade Agreements. Members at the March 27 meeting also reviewed five existing trade agreements, looking at the EU-U.K. RTA on goods and services, the economic partnership agreement between Eastern and Southern Africa states and the U.K., and the U.K.-Japan comprehensive economic cooperation and partnership agreement; the India-Mauritius CEPA; and the Turkey-Serbia free trade deal, WTO said. The next meeting is set for July 3-4.

The EU and the U.K. are stepping up Russia sanctions enforcement, mirroring U.S. efforts to increase prosecutions and designations of companies helping Moscow evade trade restrictions, two Europe-based lawyers said this week. They said European countries are increasingly taking steps to expand the extraterritorial reach of their sanctions authorities, warning companies to make sure they’re conducting careful due diligence.

The Bureau of Industry and Security this week added 32 parties to its Unverified List after it was unable to verify their “legitimacy and reliability” for receiving export-controlled items. The additions include 14 entries in China, five in the United Arab Emirates, four in Turkey, two in Germany and one each in Bulgaria, Canada, Indonesia, Israel, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and Singapore.