New sanctions by the European Commission with a ban to stay on the territory of the EU for Russian and Belarusian cargo vehicles have tools that enable them to get around them.
In particular, the decision of the European Commission states that EU countries can decide for themselves which RF and Belarusian enterprises to permit transportation of separate categories of cargo, informs the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine on its Facebook page.
Such exceptions may be:
- natural gas and oil, including the products of oil refining, as well as titanium, aluminum, copper, nickel, palladium, and iron ore;
- pharmaceutical, medical, agricultural, and food products, including wheat and fertilizers;
- relief consignments.
Separately, it deals with the possibility of exceptions for Russian companies that deliver and give cultural values for temporary use.
“The economic outputs of the sanctions must be correlated to the losses which Russia inflicted on Ukraine and European consumers, having destroyed the infrastructure, and those are thousands of kilometers of roads, railway stations, airports, and blocked seaports. Currently, the freight that can’t be transported from the Ukrainian ports will be sent to the EU by automobile vehicles and trains. The expenditures the new logistic routes need are huge,” the Ministry said.
Moreover, there is a chance that the countries with a “neutral position” that do not declare Russia directly at war against Ukraine will use these exceptions and let the occupiers continue to earn in the European markets. In its turn, that will enable Russia to commit its crimes.
“Even if to exclude completely the possibility of counterfeit delivery slips and customs bonds, the abovementioned list of products that are exceptions still provides huge possibilities for Russian and Belarus to earn,” the Ministry adds.
It also emphasized that these exceptions also provide the possibility for big business in the EU to return to the usual economic ties with the RF open.
“The reason for adopting the fifth package of sanctions of the European Commission is the condemnation of war crimes by Russia, in particular of mass murder of the Ukrainian civilians in Bucha and other inhabited areas. Because of that, the purpose of such “half-measures” stays unclear as they are leaving a big possibility for getting around the sanctions. Such a position of our partners doesn’t look consequential and logical,” the Ministry of Infrastructure comments.
The European Union prohibited the export and transit of new freight by automobile vehicles from Russia and Belarus to the territory of the EU with its fifth package of sanctions from 9 April 2022.
Starting 16 April 2022, the EU imposed a full ban on crossing the EU border by these trucks. All trucks from two aforementioned countries have to leave the territory of the EU.