As war in Ukraine enters 2nd year, compliance with economic sanctions on Russia is key: experts

As part of the latest round of sanctions rolled out to mark the one-year anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, U.S. officials said they are going after companies and individuals who are helping Russia find back doors to secure financing and restricted technology.

With several rounds of sanctions already in effect, a former deputy minister of energy for the Russian government says there needs to be an increase in monitoring compliance if NATO countries are serious about squeezing Russia's ability to fund and fight the war.

"The hardest sanctions have been largely already adopted. The priority should be enforcement ... which is weak at times," said Vladimir Milov, who has been living in exile in Vilnius, Lithuania, since leaving Russia in 2021.

"Putin is very effectively circumventing the sanctions." 

On Friday, the U.S. Treasury Department announced it was rolling out new sanctions against some of those accused of helping Russia evade the ones previously imposed.

In addition to targeting Russian and Russia-based companies, sanctions were imposed on Swiss and German nationals.

The U.S. Commerce Department also announced export bans on U.S. technology and goods to a number of companies located outside of Russia, including five Chinese and two Canadian companies.

The restrictions were put in place over fears that products could be rerouted to Russia, where they could end up being used by the military.

CBC News spoke with two experts about the Russian sanctions regime who said third-party countries are aiding Russia — and they pointed to Turkey and the United Arab Emirates as being among the culprits.

Earlier this month, a U.S. Treasury official visited both countries to warn that they could lose access to G7 markets if they help Russia's defence sector evade sanctions.

Turkey's foreign minister said earlier this week that it isn't selling any products to Russia that could be used in its war effort.

Milov, who has consulted with Western politicians on how to strengthen sanctions against Russia, served as the country's deputy minister of energy in 2002. But since leaving government, he has been a vocal critic of the Russian government and President Vladimir Putin.

The sanctions were never going to have the direct immediate impact that some may have imagined, he said, and patience is key.

The Russian economy had developed certain resilience by shifting toward Asian markets and expanding its own alternative to the SWIFT international payment system, which many Russian banks have been banned from accessing since the early days of the war.