OFAC: Russia DPRK Trade Targeted

Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) imposed sanctions on three entities tied to a sanctions evasion network attempting to support arms deals between Russia and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). The entities are Limited Liability Company Verus (Verus), Defense Engineering Limited Liability Partnership (Defense Engineering), and Versor S.R.O. (Versor).  

OFAC designated Slovakian national Ashot Mkrtychev (Mkrtychev) on March 30, 2023, for attempting to facilitate arms deals between Russia and the DPRK. Through his negotiations with DPRK and Russian officials, he organized potential plans to transfer over two dozen kinds of weapons and munitions to Russia in exchange for a range of goods, including raw materials and commodities, to the DPRK.

Mkrtychev is the President of Versor, the founder and owner of Verus, and the sole director of Defense Engineering. Mkrtychev has coordinated with DPRK procurement officials and used Versor to conduct negotiations with companies abroad. 
OFAC is designating Versor, Verus, and Defense Engineering pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13551 for being owned or controlled by, or having acted or purported to act on behalf of, directly or indirectly, Mkrtychev, an individual blocked pursuant to E.O. 13551

Kazakhstan says the company sanctioned has been defunct for more than two years, RFE reports.

The Kazakh National Economy Ministry said in a statement on August 17 that the operations of Defense Engineering had been suspended in Kazakhstan since February 14, 2021, adding that the addition of the company to the U.S. sanctions list is just "a technicality."

"According to data from the Industry and Infrastructure Ministry of Kazakhstan, the named company had not been provided with license to transport specific goods. We link the addition of the company to the sanctions list with its owner Ashot Mkrtychev's being under the U.S. sanctions," the statement said, stressing that Mkrtychev is not a resident of Kazakhstan.