Finland, Poland And Baltic States Strengthen Russia Sanctions Control

Customs services signed the agreement.

The customs services of Finland, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia and Poland signed an agreement to strengthen monitoring of sanctions against Russia. As part of the agreement, countries will exchange data and intervene if sanctions are circumvented.

The agreement was signed in Vilnius on May 9, according to a press release from Finnish customs. According to it, the external border countries of the European Union (EU) “play a key role in preventing sanctions evasion.”

“We want to show other states and companies the importance of close cooperation for effective sanctions control with the agreement signed today. We also want to contribute to increasing the effectiveness of sanctions,” said Sami Rakshit, the Director General of Finnish Customs.

In April, the European Council included circumvention of EU sanctions into the list of criminal offenses. These included, in particular, trading in sanctioned goods and circumventing the travel ban on Europe. According to EUobserver, the EU intends to agree on the 14th package of sanctions against the Putin regime by July.