Since March 2024, the countries of the European Economic Area have imposed a ban that blocked a number of opportunities for Russians to circumvent EU sanctions.
A letter from the Swiss regulator to one of its licensed companies appeared at the disposal of "Apostrophe", which states that Russians are prohibited from conducting FINANCIAL business in Switzerland and other European countries, in particular, carrying out operations in cryptocurrency and other financial operations.
Thus, from March 2, 2024, citizens and individuals residing in Russia are prohibited from directly or indirectly being owners or managers of companies established or registered under the laws of Switzerland or a member state of the European Economic Area (EEA) that provide services related to crypto wallets, crypto accounts or or storage of crypto assets.
This means that the EU has imposed effective sanctions against Russia that will not allow the Kremlin to circumvent sanctions, as cryptocurrencies were most often used for this purpose.
It is worth noting that the letter from the Swiss authorities concerns only crypto businesses, but the law provides for much broader prohibitions: Russians are prohibited from conducting any business related to the provision of financial services in Europe.
Earlier, the European Parliament decided that violation of the EU's restrictive measures would become a criminal offense in all member states. The profits gained from circumventing sanctions against Russia will be confiscated in favor of Ukraine.