Clampdown on the evasion of sanctions against Russia should 'start at home' - EU envoy - video Dailymotion

euronews (in English)

The European Union's sanctions evasion clampdown - aimed at stopping countries from inadvertently providing Russia with EU-made technology used in military equipment - should start at home, according to the bloc's sanctions envoy David O'Sullivan.

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00:00 Russia is now the most sanctioned country in the world following its invasion of Ukraine.

00:08 But some critical items such as cars as well as household appliances like washing machines,

00:13 dishwashers, microwaves, which include microchip and semiconductors used to make drones, munitions

00:19 and other lethal hardware, are making their way onto the battlefield in Ukraine despite

00:24 being prohibited from sale to Russia.

00:27 It appears that companies in Turkey, Kazakhstan, Armenia, China and others, countries which

00:32 are not in lining with EU sanctions, have been supplying Russia with these items.

00:36 The job of the EU sanctions envoy David O'Sullivan is to use diplomatic pressure to persuade

00:41 countries not to circumvent Western sanctions.

00:48 I think we have to be realistic.

00:50 There's always going to be a degree of circumvention.

00:52 There's money to be made.

00:53 A lot of these products have all previously been sold to other countries and are kind

00:58 of out there on the free market.

01:00 But I think our main objective, and in this I think we are succeeding, is to make it harder,

01:05 to make it slower and to make it more expensive for Russia to access these products.

01:10 So every time we shut off one avenue, a new one has to be developed.

01:15 And I think that's our objective, is progressively to make it harder, slower and much more expensive

01:21 for Russia to be able to procure this.

01:24 He also says that while Russia is getting access to some critical pieces, Western efforts

01:29 are working in hampering Russia's ability to replenish its military machinery.

01:34 I mean there are things that have a perfectly innocent civilian application in normal circumstances,

01:40 but also they are largely made with US or EU technology.

01:44 They are not easily replicated in other countries.

01:48 So it is hard for Russia to get them as we cease to export them and as we persuade countries,

01:55 intermediary countries, no longer to re-export them to Russia.

01:59 And I think, yes, we do see some evidence that it's getting much more difficult and

02:03 they are using substitute products, sometimes of Chinese origin, but which are of inferior

02:08 quality to be frank.

02:10 So this is giving the Ukrainian military a certain technological advantage on the battlefield.

02:16 The EU's sanctions envoy insists that sanctions are working as they are slowly hampering Russia's

02:21 war effort, but warns it will take time and commitment to ensure they pay off.

02:26 Shona Murray, Euronews, Brussels.

02:28 [BLANK_AUDIO]

Clampdown on the evasion of sanctions against Russia should 'start at home' - EU envoy

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