The European Union will launch an 11th wave of sanctions against Russia and seek to crack down on evasion of economic penalties following Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine, a senior EU official told CNBC on Thursday.
“Europe has already introduced 10 sanctions. We will introduce another,” Mairead McGuinness, EU Commissioner for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union, told CNBC’s Joumanna Bercetche at the IMF’s Spring Meetings in Washington, D.C. express
EU countries been negotiating Regarding the drafting of a new round of sanctions against Russia in recent weeks, McGuinness confirmed that a package 11 is being developed.
“Our message is that sanctions are working and we’re going to do more, but we need to think about full implementation,” McGuinness said. “What Russia was deprived of was the money and the technology to retool their war machine, and they had problems on the battlefield.”
“We have to make sure they don’t find a way around our sanctions, and I’ve said over and over again, the deeper our sanctions, the more impact, the more Russia will look for these ways, whether it’s other countries or different bank accounts to circumvent .”
McGuinness said that in addition to imposing further sanctions on Moscow, Brussels would seek to ensure that they were “effectively” implemented so that it would be more difficult for individuals and entities to circumvent them.
“We have to make sure they don’t find a way around our sanctions,” McGuinness said. “I have repeatedly said that the deeper our sanctions, the greater the impact.”
She added: “Don’t underestimate what Russia will do with its global partners to get around our sanctions — they’re affecting the Russian economy, they’re affecting the Russian war machine.”
McGuinness was also asked whether the EU would consider new legislation to penalize countries that help Russia evade sanctions.
The U.S. Treasury Department released a list last year of countries helping Russia evade sanctions, including Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Instead, the group focused on targeting individuals and entities, McGuinness said.
“We are amending our legislation to look at individuals involved in sanctions intervention,” McGuinness said. “Of course, when it comes to people or entities breaking the law, we’ll see that’s when we take action.”
Some countries, including Estonia and France, have Calls on EU to sanction Moldovan and Georgian oligarchs Purportedly committed to helping Russia destabilize Ukraine.
McGuinness said the EU was working with the United States, Britain, Canada and Japan, as well as other allies, to ensure the effective implementation of sanctions against Russia and to gather intelligence on the country’s attempts to evade sanctions.
