The European Union has implemented 10 rounds of sanctions against Russia since the country’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. These sanctions are aimed at reducing Moscow’s revenue and access to technology used in war. However, according to a research note from the European Parliament, the impact of these sanctions may not be severe enough to limit Russia’s ability to wage war against Ukraine in 2023. This is due to the fact that much trade still flows between the EU and Russia, partly because of successful lobbying, the EU’s reluctance to take a harder economic hit, and concerns about global supply chain disruptions.
Despite the sanctions, some EU countries are still conducting business with Russia, which raises questions about the effectiveness of the sanctions in achieving their intended goals.The European Union is now focused on cracking down on ways in which current sanctions on Russia are being bypassed, rather than seeking new sanctions. Officials have identified countries such as the UAE, Turkey, Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan as potential circumvention routes.
Despite the sanctions, the EU continues to do business with Russia, with the country being the EU’s fifth-largest trading partner in 2021, with goods exchanged worth 258 billion euros ($280bn). However, the value of EU imports from Russia has fallen by half since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, with imports totaling 171 billion euros ($186bn) from March 2022 to January 2023, according to Eurostat. This figure is much higher than the 60 billion euros ($65bn) assigned to Ukraine over the year since the invasion.
