The Council of the European Union adopted a decision to add sanctions evasion to the list of crimes. This is reported on the website of the Council of the EU.

 "Today, the Council unanimously decided to add violations of restrictive measures to the list of EU crimes included in the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU," the message reads.

 As noted, EU countries have different definitions of what constitutes a violation of restrictive measures and what punishment should be applied.

 "This could lead to varying degrees of sanctions and the risk of circumvention of these measures, potentially allowing sanctioned individuals to continue to access their assets and support regimes targeted by EU measures," the EU Council added.

 It was reported that adding the violation of restrictive measures to the list of EU crimes is the first of two steps aimed at ensuring the same degree of application of sanctions throughout the EU and preventing attempts to circumvent or violate sanctions.

 After the adoption of this decision, the European Commission will propose a directive with rules on the definition of criminal offenses and penalties for violations of EU restrictive measures.