By BRUSSELS. Nov 28 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Council of the European Union decided on Monday to list the evasion of EU sanctions as a criminal offense, according to a press release of the website of the Council of the European Union.
"The EU has adopted a number of restrictive measures in the context of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and it is essential that these measures are fully implemented. Currently member states have different definitions of what constitutes a violation of restrictive measures and what penalties should be applied in the event of violation. This could lead to different degrees of enforcement of sanctions and a risk of these measures being circumvented, potentially allowing sanctioned persons to continue accessing their assets and supporting regimes targeted by EU measures," the press release published in Brussels quoted Pavel Blažek, Minister of Justice of the Czech Republic that currently presides in the Council of the European Union, as saying.
The inclusion of the violation of restrictive measures in the list of "EU crimes" is the first of two steps to ensure a similar degree of sanctions enforcement throughout the EU and to dissuade attempts to circumvent or violate EU measures, the communique said. Now the European Commission "will present a proposal for a directive containing minimum rules concerning the definition of criminal offences and penalties for the violation of EU restrictive measures."
After that, the draft directive will be discussed and approved by the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union, the press service said.
