BIS Detaining Record Number of Russia Exports, Official Says

The Bureau of Industry and Security is on pace to detain almost as many exports to Russia this year as the agency detained in 2021 for the entire world, said Matthew Axelrod, the agency’s top export enforcement official. In the six months since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, he said, the U.S. has detained nearly 240 shipments to Russia worth more than $93 million.

Axelrod, speaking Sept. 15 at the Southeast Asia Forum on Export Controls in Singapore, attributed some of the agency’s success to close collaboration with CBP. He said BIS is sharing trade licensing information with CBP officials to help them seize unauthorized exports at U.S. ports. BIS has “found that working closely with law enforcement partners across the U.S. government helps maximize the effectiveness of our enforcement efforts,” Axelrod said. “Our ability to focus attention on Russia in this way simply would not be possible without our powerful partnership with our customs agency.”

Axelrod also said BIS hopes to expand its information sharing with Asia-Pacific countries to “further support enforcement capacity building.” He said existing U.S. enforcement partnerships (see 2207010010) with Canada and the EU have proven successful, noting BIS and Canada have already identified “diversion pathways” and worked together on “investigative actions that have prevented adversaries from acquiring controlled items.”

“I recognize that given the differences in our authorities and in our agencies’ structures, there will also be differences in how we each implement our respective controls,” Axelrod said. “But I am confident that we can all benefit from building ways to share best practices on effective enforcement, including through enhanced information sharing, to protect our collective security interests.”