The EU extended sanctions on two businessmen and four Russian companies

The Council of the European Union (EU) announced this Friday restrictive measures against two individuals and four companies for circumventing sanctions imposed by 27 countries against Russia and supporting the Russian government.

One of those listed is Dmitry Beloglazov and his company Title LLC. According to the EU Council, Beloglazov, along with Oleg Deripaska, is responsible for creating a complex tax evasion scheme that is already subject to EU restrictive measures.

The board of directors’ statement said that the company OOO Titul created a subsidiary, Joint Stock Company Ilidais, to acquire Oleg Deripaska’s stake in International LLC Rasperia Trading Limited.

Rasperia owns €28.5 million worth of shares in another European company, STRABAG SE, whose assets were frozen as a result of EU restrictions following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Thanks to this mechanism, Deripaska was able to sell his frozen assets to Rasperia. In light of this evasion scheme, the Board of Directors was also subject to sanctions against JSC Iliadis and Rasperia.

The new listings announced on Friday also included PJSC TransContainer, Russia’s largest rail container operator, and its CEO Mikhail Kontserev.

The carrier’s revenues grew throughout 2023 also thanks to the flow of Belarusian cargo and the company’s participation in illegal arms trade schemes with North Korea with the support of the Russian government, the EU believes.

The assets designated this Friday will be frozen and EU citizens and companies will be prohibited from providing funds to them. Individuals are also subject to a travel ban and a ban on entry or transit through EU territories.

In total, the European bloc’s restrictive measures against actions that compromise or threaten the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine now apply to more than 2,200 individuals and legal entities.

Earlier this week, the Council adopted a 14th package of economic and individual restrictive measures targeting high-value sectors of the Russian economy, aiming to make it more difficult to circumvent EU sanctions. In addition, 116 individuals and entities have been listed as responsible for actions that undermine or threaten the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine.

In its conclusions from this Thursday’s summit, the EU recalls, the European Council “reaffirmed the European Union’s continued support for the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders, as well as the EU’s unwavering commitment to providing political, financial, economic” and humanitarian support. , military and diplomatic support for Ukraine and its people as much as necessary and with the necessary intensity.”

The European Union “remains prepared to further limit Russia’s ability to wage war and calls on all countries not to provide any material or other support to Russia’s war of aggression.”