The EU is considering extending its sanctions regime against Russia to include the foreign subsidiaries of European companies in order to restrict the flow of sensitive goods reaching the country’s war machine, the EU’s sanctions envoy has said.
“A lot of the product going through China [to Russia] is coming from subsidiaries of Western companies in south-east Asia,” EU sanctions envoy David O’Sullivan said at an event in Brussels on Wednesday. “We are focusing our efforts more on trying to stop the transshipment from there through to China.”
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the EU has imposed 14 packages of sanctions against Moscow. These include export controls to stop Moscow procuring goods crucial to its war effort. The EU has also banned re-exports of certain sensitive goods via third countries.