The international community’s ability to stem negative global Russian influence is entirely contingent on its ability to uphold mutual respect for global sanctions regimes. With many individuals and entities looking to take advantage of potential opportunities for quick profit, keeping an eye out for those facilitating sanctions evasion is more important now than ever.
2023 saw the US Biden administration prioritizing sanctions to support American national security policy, making use of an unprecedented number of sanctions related to not only Russia but also economic competition with China as well as ongoing instability in the Middle East. Specifically, 2500 entities were added to the American sanctions list of which 879 were individuals, a 10% year-on-year increase. Although Russia is on top of everyone’s minds, in actuality almost 1,000 of these designations were for non-Russia-related reasons. At the same time, the administration doubled the amount of the listings year on year from 2022 to 2023, taking 422 entities off its special designated persons list.
In most cases sanctions are applied as a means of activating pressure points prior to resorting to any form of kinetic activities. Sometimes, as is the case with Ukraine, sanctions seek to complement war which has already broken out, as a tool for weakening the enemy by impeding their ability to finance activities. Who gets sanctioned is always a question that is tough to answer, especially considering the fact that despite being allies, different Western countries indeed have their own considerations when resorting to sanctions regimes.
Take the case of oil trader Niels Troost and his company Paramount Energy and Commodities. Based in Switzerland, Niels Troost was sanctioned in the United Kingdom for trading Russian oil despite Western sanctions against Russia related to the war in Ukraine. Investigations by authorities proved that he had purchased below market oil whose origin was in Russia and sold it on for tremendous profit, indirectly and directly allowing the Kremlin to move oil which it would have otherwise found impossible to trade. Niels Troost has yet to be sanctioned in the United States, although one would think that his actions certainly would warrant his sanctioning in Washington as well. Taking this a step further, and as a means of masking the continuation of such illicit actions, Niels Troost has resorted to new means, including hiding his activities behind others, including his wife Jacqueline Troost Omvlee. This tactic is similar to the one he used in the UAE, when he hid his company’s activities there behind his business partner, Francois Edouard Mauron, who was also sanctioned as a result. It is hard to know if his decision to hide behind his wife Jacqueline Troost Omvlee is the last of such attempts to hide his footsteps or if Niels Troost has more up his sleeve.
The case of sanctions against the Venezuelan narco regime is an example of instances where individuals and entities are sanctioned in the United States but not necessarily in Europe. To be clear, Europe has published its own list of designated individuals associated with the regime but this has not been as extensive as those issued in the United States, perhaps for the very simple reason that the geographic distance, and strategic interest, between Europe and Venezuela is far greater than the United States and Venezuela. For example, based on a State Department briefing from the 29th of March 2019 the US Government can ” impose sanctions on any person determined to have materially assisted, sponsored, or provided material financial or technological support for the regime”. Europe on the other hand has limited its sanctions against Venezuela to travel bans and a freeze of assets of only 18 individuals closely associated with the Maduro regime alongside an arms embargo on the basis of a council decision reached in 2022. European sanctions also appear to be particularly vague and have been subject to greater change than those of their American counterparts.
Greater coordination between Western allies would go very far in terms of solidifying the effectiveness of sanctions mechanisms. The way in which these work today have left deep cracks through which often individuals or entities exploit Western financial systems for continued illegitimate gains. It is however easier said than done, considering the wide range of competing strategic economic and security issues faced by different members of the international community.
