Think tank exposes Russia’s mechanisms for countering sanctions

Ukraine-based Center for Defense Reforms has presented the report “The main methods of countering sanctions, applied by the Government of the Russian Federation to minimize negative economic consequences.”

That’s according to Guildhall, Ukrinform reports.

The authors note that contrary to economic and political sanctions being one of the main instruments used by the international community for non-person influence on states violating international law and order, over the long term of their application, sanctioned powers have developed various mechanisms of minimizing their negative impact.

According to the report, the Russian government is already actively employing a number of measures to counter sanctions introduced by the G7, the European Union, and other powers over an unprovoked military invasion of Ukraine. These include legalization and establishment of “parallel imports” through the EAEU member states and others “friendly” nations, financial transactions bypassing the global banking system, covert exports through manipulating goods transportation protocols, partial adoption of blocking legislation, the use of intermediaries, and other measures.

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The report analyzes the experience of countering sanctions by states such as the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

In order to minimize the effect of measures undertaken by the Russian government and businesses, the authors of the study propose to set up an international group to detect and counteract sanction evasion by Russia, which should include representatives of security and intelligence forces and authorized state bodies which imposed sanctions on Russia. They also believe it is required to promote the normative consolidation of the proposals put forward by the European Commission on the recognition of violations of the sanctions regime as a crime at the EU level and in the national legislation of the EU member states. Also, it is proposed to expand the practice of applying secondary sanctions in relation to companies that violate the sanctions regime.