The United States and the European Union are stepping up efforts to share information and coordinate sanctions policies in an effort to make joint Western economic and financial punishment of Russia and other countries more effective.
Washington and Brussels are expected to announce on Tuesday that they are “committed to working more closely together on sanctions as a key tool to achieve shared foreign policy goals,” according to a prepared statement from the U.S. Treasury Department seen by the Financial Times. “.
The announcement follows a meeting in Brussels last month at which officials from the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control and the European Union’s External Action Service and Financial Services Directorate sought to “adjust the implementation of sanctions, promote compliance, strengthen law enforcement, and address common “foreign policy challenges,” the statement said.
The European Union and the United States, which have worked closely to impose sanctions on Russia since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year, are now in a new phase of a crackdown trying to limit sanctions evasion and arms sales. Weapons or dual-use technology are shipped to Moscow.
The decision to step up technical coordination of sanctions reflects a recognition by Washington and Brussels that they need a better permanent system in case they need to deploy similar economic weapons in the future. The U.S. and U.K. moved last year to boost their bilateral coordination on sanctions implementation and enforcement, and Brussels has been considering creating its own version of Ofac.
The Treasury statement noted that Western sanctions can cause collateral damage, and that officials have been exploring “ways to ensure that sanctions do not prevent humanitarian trade and aid from reaching those in need, and that those in sanctioned jurisdictions protect their rights.” “. Internet Freedom”.
“Multilateral implementation maximizes the effectiveness of sanctions, minimizes unintended costs, and reduces the public’s burden of compliance,” it added.
In addition to imposing sweeping sanctions on Russia’s central bank, top officials, banks, state-owned entities, oligarchs and defense companies, the EU and the U.S. have coordinated a G7-led cap on Russian oil prices and sought to speak with one voice, urging other countries to refrain from Help Moscow economically and militarily.
But there is some disagreement over how far it can go in isolating Russia. While the U.S. is pushing for a blanket export ban on Russia from the Group of Seven, European allies and Japan have been resisting it, the Financial Times reported last month.