Loopholes are being patched in the sanctions fence – Kommersant FM
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The European Commission has completed the development of the 12th package of sanctions against Russia. Officials approved the new restrictions. Now the EU countries must discuss them. According to Politico, state representatives will gather for an in-person meeting on November 17. Meanwhile, Bloomberg studied the contents of the next package. The measures should affect about €5 billion of trade turnover between Moscow and Brussels. According to the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, the sanctions will affect exports, imports, trade in energy resources and violators of existing restrictions. With details – Ivan Khorushevsky.
The long list of measures opens with oil sanctions. According to the Russian Ministry of Finance, Moscow sells Urals at almost $80 per barrel, although the West has set a price ceiling of $60. The European Commission has proposed tightening controls. By tradition, Brussels also expects to expand trade embargoes. The export of some European chemicals, machine tools and parts for them, as well as the import of Russian foil, propane and diamonds, may be subject to a ban. However, all these restrictions cannot be called painful, says Oleg Komolov, Candidate of Economic Sciences, Associate Professor at the Financial University:
“Take, for example, restrictions on the supply of diamonds. The European Union is not a leader in importing these goods from Russia. First of all, India and the United Arab Emirates buy Russian diamonds. As for restrictions on the supply of various types of machine tools and technologies, again there is nothing new here, it’s just that parallel import schemes will be used to a greater extent.
Another thing is how effectively Europe will deal with how Russia is looking for loopholes in the sanctions fence, what kind of political pressure there will be on friendly countries – Turkey, Kazakhstan, China and other states that are now actively earning mediation roles.”
The European Commission does not forget about third countries and is systematically increasing pressure on them. The black list can be supplemented by 30 legal entities from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Singapore and other countries that traded with Russia in circumvention of existing restrictions.
In addition, Brussels is thinking about introducing an analogue of exchange control. Companies owned or controlled by Russian businessmen, according to plans, will have to request permission from regulators to withdraw funds from the EU. With the help of this measure, European officials hope to plug holes in the sanctions policy, notes lawyer, partner of BGP Litigation Sergei Glandin:
“Even in the third package, the EU authorities prohibited any export of cash European currency to the Russian Federation, but business entities in third countries could easily bring it to themselves, and then bring it through some means, including to Russia. Apparently they want to close this loophole.”
The 12th package also contains other restrictions aimed against Russian entrepreneurs. They want to be banned from holding positions in European financial companies working with cryptocurrencies. The logic is simple: it has become more difficult for Moscow to conduct international transactions, it is looking for alternatives, including in tokens, and in this matter it needs helpers. All Russians are under suspicion. But even if Brussels’ fears are true, sanctions are unlikely to help here, independent cryptocurrency market analyst Viktor Pershikov is sure:
“If we are talking about the risks of using European cryptoinfrastructure to circumvent sanctions, then they exist. However, there are other regions, such as the UAE, whose infrastructure allows for the necessary transactions with crypto assets without the need to involve companies from regulated areas.”
It turns out that Russian businessmen abroad will suffer the most from the new restrictions. In fact, the European Union encourages them to decide what they want more: maintaining ties with their homeland or maintaining their international business.
Everything is clear with us – Telegram channel “Kommersant FM”.
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