The EU is discussing new measures designed to strengthen control over the implementation of sanctions against Russia within the bloc.
Source: EU authorities
In particular, new measures are being discussed that can close loopholes, strengthen the enforcement of sanctions and improve data exchange between EU countries.
“For now, the leakiest area of European sanctions enforcement is the effort to identify and freeze money, assets and companies held in Europe by dozens of Russian oligarchs linked to Russian President Vladimir Putin.”
Member states have frozen €13.8 billion – the equivalent of more than $14 billion – in assets held by oligarchs, but they acknowledge there is far more they could be missing.
To close one loophole, the EU began imposing sanctions on some members of oligarch families, as the US had done aggressively since the early days of the war.
The EU already has criminalized sanctions violations and prohibited service providers from advising to wealthy Russians related to the creation or maintenance of trusts, which help camouflage ownership of companies.
Currently, the EU authorities are working on improving the legislation and creating task forces to monitor the implementation of sanctions.
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