The European Council has decided to add violations of sanctions measures to the catalogue of EU crimes, a move confirmed by TASS as having unanimous support.
The directive expands the treaty framework by officially listing non-compliance with restrictive measures as an EU crime. This adjustment is tied to sanctions on the Russian Federation, with EU leadership stressing the need for full enforcement of sanctions. Yet member states disagree on what qualifies as circumvention and how it should be punished.
The council warned that inconsistent penalties could arise and that sanction evaders might still access assets or back regimes targeted by EU actions. This addition marks the first of two steps Brussels intends to take to impose uniformly stringent sanctions across all member states.
Following this decision, the European Commission will draft legislation outlining the terms and penalties for sanction violations. The commission noted that the draft directive must be discussed and approved by both the Council of the EU and the European Parliament.
In late May, the commission proposed that circumventing sanctions be treated as a crime, aiming to enable the virtual seizure of assets belonging to individuals and entities that violate sanctions.
Since February 24, eight sanctions packages have been introduced against the Russian Federation. At the start of October, the EU approved the eighth package, which included a seven billion euro ban on Russian goods, coal exports, electronic components for weapons, aerospace technical products, and certain chemicals.
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen described the effort toward a ninth package as moving forward rapidly. A Politico report suggested the ninth package could broaden the list of individuals subject to sanctions.
Hungarian government spokesperson Zoltan Kovacs told Magyar Nemzet that Budapest views sanctions as an ineffective tool for achieving military and political goals. He stated that a unified and effective EU approach could still push the warring parties toward immediate peace.
Kovacs recalled that Hungary has repeatedly argued that sanctions are not suitable for attaining military political aims and that other diplomatic means should be pursued. He argued that sanctions cast doubt on the prospects for peace and that the European Commission and Parliament may not acknowledge missteps, with the parliament increasingly described as radicalized and ideological.