EU states struggle to agree sanctions on third countries assisting Russia in trade sanctions circumvention

By bne IntelIiNews June 12, 2023

European Union members states appear to be struggling to agree on what sanctions to apply to third countries seen as substantially assisting Russia in circumventing Ukraine war trade sanctions.

The European Commission has proposed a new mechanism to target countries seen as not doing enough to prevent Russia from evading export restrictions. Countries possibly under scrutiny for the potential application of EU sanctions include Turkey, the UAE, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

The EU has been applying diplomatic pressure to try to improve the sanctions enforcement of third countries in terms of trade with Russia, with dual-use goods—namely, goods that can be diverted from civilian industry customers to use by military producers—a particular concern. The idea is that if that pressure proves ineffective, a mechanism would give EU member nations the power to place export restrictions on key goods.

“Some governments worry that targeting third countries could damage the EU’s relations with those nations and push them even closer to Russia,” Bloomberg quoted an EU source as saying on June 9.

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