The EU has defined a new priority for anti-Russian sanctions

Photo: David O'Sullivan

EU sanctions may target financial institutions that facilitate the supply of foreign products to Russia, as well as supplies of products manufactured in Southeast Asia by Western subsidiaries.

This was stated on Wednesday, September 18, by the EU commissioner for sanctions David O'Sullivan. He noted that the sanctions imposed against Russia in response to its full-scale war against Ukraine are not a “magic bullet”, but their goal is to make it more difficult and expensive for Moscow to fuel its war machine, Reuters reports.

O'Sullivan added that he has no illusions about circumventing sanctions and that compiling a list of companies selling dual-use goods to Moscow is often ineffective: when the activities of one such company are stopped, another immediately appears in its place.

He said the EU had made a lot of efforts to reduce the circumvention of sanctions through Central Asian countries, and that this reduction had become evident after diplomatic efforts involving Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Armenia and other countries. However, O'Sullivan stressed, the EU faces a more difficult task – to stop similar flows in Southeast Asia, whose countries are not only transit points but also producers.

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“Most of the products that go through China are made by subsidiaries of Western companies in Southeast Asia,”– the EU's sanctions chief told a Brussels think tank event after visiting Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia.

“This is about identifying financial institutions that are potentially funding the transit of battlefield goods [to Russia],” O'Sullivan said. “If such institutions are identified, they will be contacted and told that… if they do not stop acting [in this way], they risk being listed. The US has already done this to great effect – three cases earlier this year. We are starting to collect and compare information.”.

The EU is increasingly facing the problem of coordinating the application of 14 sanctions packages imposed by the bloc in its 27 member countries.

According to O'Sullivan, the measures taken by EU member states and other Western countries have forced Russia to put its economy on a war footing. He stressed that this will cause considerable damage to it, which will become apparent in the next year or two.

Prepared by: Sergey Daga