USA, EU stop cooperation in countering Russian sanctions evasion – media
Cooperation between the European Union and the United States in the field of joint fight against Russian evasion of sanctions has “failed,” reports Süddeutsche Zeitung with reference to an internal report of the German Foreign Ministry.
Head of EU sanctions policy David O’Sullivan laments the “complete collapse” of transatlantic coordination on sanctions evasion. As a result, “there is no longer any joint information and propaganda work.” G7 cooperation has also “lost momentum” in this regard.
“The problem is that the US was de facto the driving force of the sanctions regime,” said Sergey Lagodinsky, a member of the European Parliament from the Greens, in an interview with the publication. “If the Trump administration seeks to normalize relations with Russia, it will mean the end of the global sanctions regime,” he added.
However, O'Sullivan and the head of the European Intelligence Center (INTCEN) stressed that the sanctions already imposed would have a "significant impact" on the Russian economy. They also noted that the EU has achieved some success in restricting the export of military goods through third countries, in particular with regard to states such as Armenia, Serbia, Uzbekistan and India.
At the same time, O'Sullivan stressed that China, including Hong Kong, is responsible for about 80% of cases of circumvention of sanctions and continues to deny this. There are also difficulties with Kazakhstan, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey.
O'Sullivan was able to report on the first successes in the fight against the “shadow fleet” of Russia. According to him, “several states” in which these tankers and cargo ships, which actually belong to Russia, are registered, have recalled their flags at the initiative of the EU.
The document notes that the next EU sanctions will probably be directed against the Russian energy and banking sectors. The only country of the community that objects to this is Hungary. There are also doubts about the support of such sanctions by the US administration.