Customs starts 660 probes into breaches of sanction against Russia

Finnish Customs has observed more than 27 000 possibly uncommon transports of goods, and started more than 660 preliminary investigations into breaches against EU sanctions against Russia, said Customs in a press release on Tuesday.

The war in Ukraine has continued for one year and eight months and during this time, the European Union has initiated 11 sanctions packages against Russia due to the war of attack in Ukraine.

The list of sanctioned products is long, and has been extended and specified along with each new package of sanctions. The latest sanctions package that took effect in midsummer was aimed especially at circumventions of sanctions.

Since February 2022, Customs has carried out targeted controls on about 2 500 transports. Customs has started preliminary investigations into more than 660 cases, 60 of which are investigated as aggravated regulation offences.

In recent months through controls of sanctions, Customs has prevented attempted exports to Russia of for example high-technology products, computers, electronic devices and phones, cars and spare parts of cars, tools, luxury products, water scooters and drones.

“Practically speaking, all controls we conduct on our eastern border involve sanctions. Since the beginning, we have enforced the sanctions imposed by the EU in a strict manner, and have proactively strived to identify and point out possible discrepancies that might affect the efficient implementation of sanctions, for example as concerns circumventions. Businesses should now pay special attention to not getting involved in trade relations or logistics solutions with parties attempting to circumvent sanctions,” said Sami Rakshit, Director of the Enforcement Department of Finnish Customs.