Page 45 - RusRPTMar23

the EEU countries and Turkey played the same role in parts as they do in machines.
“Russia is getting everything it needs, albeit at higher costs and with more difficulty,” Elina Ribakova, deputy chief economist at Institute of International Finance (IIF) told bne
IntelliNews in a recent podcast about the impact of sanctions on Russia’s economy.
The EBRD study of trade data shows a "considerable amount" of sanctioned products are being exported from the EU and Germany to third countries "and then exported further from there to Russia", despite the severe sanctions. Habeck's economy ministry released a paper stating that "we have to jointly deal with these [attempts to] bypass sanctions more effectively than we have up till now, both on a national and an EU level,” the Financial Times reported.
Germany will push for the proposals to be included in the EU's 11th package of sanctions against Russia, with Habeck stating that businesses evading sanctions were "betraying the interests of [the Ukrainian] people who are fighting for their freedom." EU ambassadors are due to sign off a tenth sanctions package on February 24.
Habeck is proposing a new level of reporting where exporters have to provide a transparent "end-use statements" that identify the ultimate beneficial recipient of an exported good as part of their export declarations, rather than just the first port of call for a departing good. The system would be the trade equivalent of the introduction of “blood diamond” certificates of origin that were introduced to prevent the sale of diamonds from Africa produced by authoritarian regimes to fund wars.
Habeck’s new rule would apply to "all sanctioned goods that have significance for Russia's war machine". Anyone who provides false information in the end- use statement would face criminal conviction.
Habeck's intervention came as the EU and its partners, including the US and UK, met to share intelligence on possible sanctions dodging. David O'Sullivan, the EU's newly appointed sanctions envoy, explained to the Financial Times the EU’s concerns of sanction dodging schemes sourcing goods
from the EU.
2.16 Five takeaways from Putin's speech on war anniversary
On the eve of the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin addressed the Federal Assembly, a body that unites the two houses of Russia’s parliament.
In reality, his speech was intended for a far wider audience, from the government, the business community and the military to regular citizens. For almost two hours, Putin slammed the West, justified Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and boasted of how Russia’s economy had withstood sanctions.
45 RUSSIA Country Report March 2023 www.intellinews.com