By early June 2026, 131 individuals and entities from six Western Balkan countries had been placed on the US blacklist.
The largest number of sanctions is related to Serbia (49), followed by Kosovo (29), Bosnia and Herzegovina (26), North Macedonia (12), Albania (8) and Montenegro (7).
Sanctions decisions are made by the Office of Foreign Assets Control, or OFAC for short, which operates within the US Department of the Treasury.
It is a list of individuals and businesses that the US sanctions – in the case of the Western Balkans, mainly due to suspicions of links to organized crime, corruption, or regional destabilization.
Also, among those sanctioned in the Balkans are persons and entities linked to terrorist activities or Russian influence.
The US imposed sanctions on the Western Balkans between 2001 and 2004, due to war crimes, destabilization of countries, and violation of peace after the end of the wars in the territory of the former Yugoslavia during the years 1991-1999.
Sanctions returned to the spotlight a decade later, when they began to be imposed due to corruption, drug trafficking, terrorism, and violations of peace and stability.
Since 2022, those sanctioned have also included persons and entities with ties to Russia, which has been isolated due to its invasion of Ukraine.
The decision to extend the validity of the legal mechanism that allows the US to impose sanctions on Western Balkan countries — “emergency measures” — was officially extended on June 22, 2026, for another year.
When it comes to the six Balkan countries, there are 71 entities and 60 individuals on the list, while the sanctioned legal entities are mainly linked to sanctioned individuals.
Targeted sanctions can range from travel bans and financial restrictions to trade restrictions and asset freezes.
The goal is to isolate individuals or legal entities, in order to limit their access to political or economic resources.
List of entities sanctioned by the US:
Entities are never automatically removed from the list just because they have ceased to exist or have been liquidated.
As OFAC stipulates, for an organization to be removed from the sanctions list, a formal legal petition is required demonstrating a “change in circumstances” or cessation of the contested activity.
For this reason, the list of sanctioned entities continues to include defunct entities that have ceased operations.
In Albania, there are five entities on the OFAC list:
1. AL-HARAMAIN, branch in Albania.
Status: Closed and sanctioned.
Location: In addition to Albania, from the Western Balkan countries, Al-Haramain is also present in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Program: Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT).
Activity: Humanitarian work.
Date of sanction: June 2, 2004.
2. GLOBAL RELIEF FOUNDATION, INC.
Status: Closed and Sanctioned.
Location: In addition to Albania, from the Western Balkan countries, Global Relief Foundation has also been present in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia.
Program: Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT).
*It is also on the consolidated sanctions lists of the UN Security Council and the European Union.
Activity: Humanitarian organization
Date of Sanction: October 18, 2002. While its assets and accounts were blocked in December 2001.
3. HURIYA PRIVATE FZE LLE
Location: As a multinational network that served to evade sanctions, HURIYA PRIVATE FZE LLE does not have a fixed address in Albania, but in the OFAC database Albania is listed as its point of operation.
The company’s addresses are listed in the United Arab Emirates as the main headquarters, as well as in Cyprus, Switzerland and Qatar.
Program: RUSSIA-E014024
Activity: Providing services to the corporate sector.
The company has been sanctioned, along with its CEO John Desmond Hanafin, an Irish citizen, for assisting Russian nationals in evading sanctions, according to OFAC investigations.
The company has been accused of money laundering and transferring Russian assets abroad (mainly to the United Arab Emirates) after the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Sanction date: May 19, 2023.
4. HYSA ORGANIZED CRIMINAL GROUP
Location: The criminal group is located in Albania and Mexico.
Program: TCO (Transnational Criminal Organisation) / Transnational criminal organisation.
Activity: Criminal organisation
Members of the Hysa family (Luftar, Arben, Ramiz, Fatos and Fabion) used investments in businesses in Mexico and Europe to legalize hundreds of millions of dollars earned from the sale of narcotics, according to a joint international investigation by US and Mexican agencies.
In addition to casinos, the group laundered money through a chain of luxury restaurants and companies registered in Mexico, Canada and Poland.
He is affiliated with the Mexican Sinaloa Cartel, a transnational organized crime syndicate that is on the OFAC sanctions list.
Sanction date: November 13, 2025.
5. REVIVAL OF ISLAMIC HERITAGE SOCIETY, branch in Albania
Status: Closed and Sanctioned.
Location: Tirana
*The organization had registered branches in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo.
Program: Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT).
Activity: Humanitarian work.
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Albanian authorities, in cooperation with international security agencies, raided the RIHS offices in Tirana, due to suspicions of links to extremist networks. The office was permanently closed.
Date of sanction: June 13, 2008./ REL