Defense and national security

Executive Order 13159: Blocking Property of the Government of the Russian Federation Relating to the Disposition of Highly Enriched Uranium Extracted From Nuclear Weapons

President: Bill Clinton

Protected a narrow stream of Russian uranium-agreement payments from attachment or garnishment.

Status: Completed/expired. Is Executive Order 13159 still in effect? No. Executive Order 13159 is completed or expired. See Federal Register record.

What does Executive Order 13159 do?

EO 13159 blocked only Russian-government property and interests directly connected to payments under the U.S.–Russia highly enriched uranium agreement, protecting those payments from attachment or garnishment. It was not a general freeze on Russian assets. The 2000 national emergency terminated automatically on June 21, 2012 under the National Emergencies Act; EO 13617 declared a new, narrower successor emergency four days later. EO 13695 ended that emergency in 2015 after the agreement was implemented. OFAC removed 31 CFR part 540 in 2016. Those actions ended this uranium-payment measure, not separate Russia sanctions.

Later evidence reviewed October 2, 2026: This targeted HEU payment block ended in 2015 and its regulations were removed in 2016. It is separate from other Russia-related sanctions.

Administration position: The asset block served a particular nuclear-disarmament payment mechanism; it did not freeze all Russian state property.
SignedJune 21, 2000
Federal RegisterJune 26, 2000, 65 FR 39279
2000 emergency endedJune 21, 2012
Regulations removedMarch 29, 2016

Before and after

Before the order

Court attachment of agreement-linked payments could have disrupted performance of the uranium accord.

After the order

The specified payments were protected from judicial process under the order.

A new 2012 order supplied successor protection before the emergency was ended in 2015.

Who had to do what

Agency / officeActionTiming / position
Treasury and OFACAdminister the targeted asset block and licensesHistorical program
U.S. persons holding covered assetsObserve transfer and judicial-process restrictionsUntil emergency ended
Energy and State DepartmentsSupport agreement implementationHistorical program

What happened next

EO 13159 declared an emergency and blocked specified agreement-linked property.

The original emergency terminated automatically under the National Emergencies Act.

EO 13617 established a successor emergency for defined Russian property.

EO 13695 terminated the successor emergency after agreement implementation.

OFAC removed the regulations implementing this measure.

The emergency, successor order and OFAC disposition were checked.