New sanctions should clamp on import of Western technology to Russia - expert

This was stated in an exclusive interview with Ukrinform by a U.S.-based expert in international law Eugene Vindman.

“There’s sanctions evasion on the part of Russia through different parts of Central Asia that needs to be clamped down on,” the expert told Ukrinform.

“I personally visited some forensics facilities, where I've seen circuit boards labeled very proudly ‘Made in the USA,’” said Vindman.

Russia uses these components to "bomb and kill Ukrainians", added the expert.

Despite the unprecedented level of sanctions imposed against the aggressor by Ukraine’s Western partners since the large-scale invasion, "they are insufficient to achieve the goal of stopping Russia," Vindman acknowledges.

Sanctions should also be adapted, just like operations on the battlefield, the expert believes.

"It should be looked at as an ongoing campaign, just like the military one, to bring Russians to heel, to prevent their bad behavior. It should involve stopping Western technology from getting into Russia.” He noted.

“This sanctions regime requires continual maintenance, continual review, and targeted measures against the oil and gas industry, as well as high technology. I like to think of this as an analyst looking at these critical nodes in the Russian economy and the Russian war machine, and then attacking those nodes in order to cause the Russian war machine to sputter,” Eugene Vindman concluded.

As reported earlier, the chief of the Ukrainian President’s Office, Andriy Yermak, highlights the need to introduce the 12th EU sanctions package against Russia, which should include the restrictions on Russia’s energy, defense, and hi-tech sectors.

Member of the International Sanction Expert Group Oleksandr Lysenko believes that the diamond industry is one of the significant sources for Russia to fund its war machine so it is important that the EU in the 12th package of sanctions introduces a ban on the import of Russian diamonds.

An expert with the Defense Express outlet, a researcher at the National Military History Museum of Ukraine, Navy Captain 1st rank Volodymyr Zablotskyi previously stated that Russia continues to build ships and helicopters despite existing sanctions.