The European Commission wants to introduce criminal liability for circumventing sanctions against Russia

The European Commission has proposed criminal liability in the form of five years in prison and fines for violating sanctions applied by member countries EU. This was reported press office EC.

“Depending on the offense, an individual may be subject to a maximum penalty of imprisonment for at least five years,” the proposal states. Also, the amount of fines may be at least 5% of the total global turnover of the legal entity for the financial year preceding the decision on the measure to be applied. “As long as Russian aggression against Ukraine continues, it is imperative that the restrictive measures of the EU are fully implemented, and violation of these measures is not punished. The Commission’s proposal sets out common EU rules that will facilitate the investigation, prosecution and punishment of violations of restrictive measures in all member states. It is also noted that the proposed directive will establish the same level of fines in all member countries of the association, which will close existing legal loopholes and increase the deterrent effect from violations of restrictions.

List criminal offensesviolating sanctions:

• providing funds or economic resources at the disposal or in favor of a specified person, organization or body;
• failure to freeze these funds;
• enabling designated persons to enter the territory of a Member State or transit through its territory;
• entering into transactions with third countries that are prohibited or restricted by EU measures;
• trade in goods or services, the import, export, sale, purchase, transfer, transit or transportation of which is prohibited or restricted;
• providing financial activities that are prohibited or restricted, or
• providing other prohibited or restricted services, such as legal advice, trust services, and tax advisory services.

Offenses include sanctions circumvention by hiding the funds or their ultimate owner.

As we reported earlier, the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen on Wednesday issued a statement calling for the seizure of the funds of the Russian Central Bank, which were “frozen”, and also proposed the creation of a special international court for war crimes allegedly committed by Russia in Ukraine. The head of the European Commission said that Russia should also compensate for the financial damage to Ukraine, which, according to her estimates, has already exceeded 600 billion euros. For these purposes, the European Union has already frozen 300 billion euros of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation and 19 billion euros belonging to Russian oligarchs.

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