Unprecedented EU sanctions are intended to limit Russia’s ability to wage war against Ukraine. But they are not always as effective as they could be. They now want to change that in Brussels.
In order to curb the evasion of Russia sanctions, the EU states have adopted new law enforcement rules. The regulations that have now been adopted stipulate that in future violations must be punished everywhere in the European Union.
These include helping to circumvent a travel ban, trading in sanctioned goods or carrying out prohibited financial activities. In addition, according to the information, incitement, aiding and abetting and attempts to violate sanctions can also be punished in the future.
Violations should be punished more effectively
“Member States must ensure that breaches of EU sanctions are punished with effective and proportionate criminal sanctions, which vary depending on the offence,” the Council of Member States said. It is therefore important to ensure that a custodial sentence can be imposed if sanctions are intentionally violated.
Companies should also be able to be held liable if a crime was committed by a person who holds a leadership position in the organization. “In such cases, sanctions may include exclusion from business activities and withdrawal of authorizations and authorizations to carry out economic activities,” the EU said.
New regulations against the background of the Russia sanctions
The new regulation applies to violations of all EU punitive measures. The background, however, is in particular the circumvention of sanctions that the EU has imposed because of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. These include import bans on crude oil, coal, steel, gold and luxury goods, export bans on products that can be used for military purposes, and punitive measures against banks and financial institutions.
Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck, among others, called for more decisive action against sanctions violations last year. The Green politician criticized at the time that there were clear bypasses – including from Germany. This would betray the interest of the people fighting for their freedom, he said, referring to Ukraine and the Russian war of aggression.