Three years into EU gas bills feeding Russian war crimes, Brussels designed a ban to starve Putin's war chest - and gave its traders a legal way to fund Russian missiles for 1,000 more days.
Despite public declarations of support for Ukraine, most major European powers commit minimal percentages of their economies to aid, while simultaneously purchasing Russian fossil fuels worth €3.2 billion more than their financial assistance to Kyiv in 2024, helping Russia to fund its war against Ukraine.
53 entities across seven countries, including China, India, Kazakhstan, the UAE, and Turkey, have been sanctioned by the EU for supplying Russia with dual-use technologies and military components.
Poland, Ukraine's strongest EU ally, has emerged as the largest importer of banned Russian timber, taking in a third of all suspect shipments since sanctions began.
According to the EU finance ministers, it is important for the West to continue its support of Ukraine, as ''undermining Russia’s capacity to wage war at every turn should be the top priority of every democratic country.''
Despite the EU imposing export restrictions on arms supplies to Russia, Russian companies continued to receive new shipments of Austrian-made Steyr Mannlicher rifles, with 11 sniper rifles imported in February 2024 alone, investigation finds.
Despite Russia's vast oil production, its ability to produce fuel shouldn't be overestimated. The number of major oil refineries is limited to 32 and at least 10 of them have already been targeted by drones. Explosions have partially or fully disrupted their work.
68% of the oil was brought to the Laconian Gulf in Greece for transshipment, while the rest was directly exported to the EU ports amid poor sanctions management.
The EU took aim at Russian military supply chains in third countries like China and Turkey, sanctioning 27 companies that "directly support Russia's military and industrial complex." New sanctions also directly target an additional 106 Russian individuals and 88 entities, bringing the total above 2000 facing penalties.
While Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine nears its two-year mark, Europe continues to procure 9 percent of its aluminum imports from Russia, contributing approximately €2.3 billion in 2022 Moscow's war machine.