EU monitors that sanctions against Russia are not avoided and will react if it happens

The European Union (EU) will monitor “very closely” that the sanctions imposed on Russia are not avoided and “is ready to react” if it detects that these have been avoided, while continuing to “increase pressure” on Moscow with a new package of restrictive measures that it hopes to agree on Monday, according to the European Commission (EC).

“Also from the EU side we will closely monitor the implementation of sanctions. We are creating a specific structure to deal with the implementation of sanctions in the EU and their possible circumvention”, EU Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis said before the meeting of ministers of Economy and Finance of the eurozone (Eurogroup).

In this sense, he indicated that the community bloc has already “closed certain loopholes in certain packages, for example, on the possible use of crypto assets” to avoid financial sanctions, as well as extended its sanctions to Belarus for precisely this purpose.

“It is something that we will closely monitor and we are ready to react if there is a circumvention” of the sanctions, said the Latvian politician when asked about the warnings launched by the United States against the temptations to circumvent the international sanctions imposed on Russia for the invasion of Ukraine.

Dombrovskis insisted that Moscow continues to commit “atrocities and war crimes against the civilian population” so the EU has to “continue to increase pressure to stop the aggression” for which it is studying new sanctions.

On the table, he said, there is also the question of energy supply, which continues to provide income to Russia since the EU has not prohibited imports as the United States has done.

He also stressed that the list of sanctioned oligarchs “is continually expanding” and that “there is no one untouchable” after being asked directly about the case of tycoon Roman Abramovich, whom the EU plans to include on its list of sanctioned people, as they assured EFE diplomatic sources.

The European Commissioner for the Economy, Paolo Gentiloni, pointed out that although the pressure of the sanctions on the economy “is increasing” and they have an impact “in the short and medium term”, “it is not guaranteed that opinion will change of (Russian President Vladimir) Putin” so the resistance of the Ukrainians, diplomatic pressure and the delivery of military equipment are also “components” that could lead to a diplomatic solution to stop the conflict.

The Eurogroup will debate this Monday the economic impact of the war in Ukraine on the eurozone, while the ambassadors of the Twenty-seven also meet to agree on a new package of sanctions against Moscow agreed by the EU leaders at their summit last week .

The new package of sanctions plans to deny Russia the status of most favored nation in its markets, revoking important benefits within the framework of the World Trade Organization (WTO), vetoing the import of key goods in the iron and steel sector from Russia or prohibit new European investments in the entire energy sector.

Likewise, the EU countries want to suspend Russia’s rights as a member of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB), so it could not obtain more loans or benefits from these institutions, the president announced on Friday. of the European Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen.

Likewise, they will seek to ensure that the Russian state and its elites cannot use crypto assets to circumvent the sanctions imposed, and will prohibit the export of any luxury goods from the EU to Russia.