EU authorities are working on new measures to better control the implementation of sanctions against Russia within the bloc. It is reported by The Wall Street Journal.

According to the source, at the heart of the problem of compliance with the implementation of sanctions by EU countries lies the distribution of powers between Brussels, which establishes them, and numerous national ministries, supervisory authorities and industry groups, which must interpret and directly implement these restrictions in life..

The sanctions are designed to hit the Russian economy, financial sector, military and political elite by keeping Russian money and assets inside the EU bloc and sharply limiting trade and financial ties with Russia. But the EU does not have a centralized enforcement office like the US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) that can levy financial penalties for circumventing sanctions at home and abroad..

The WSJ notes that an obstacle to the effective implementation of anti-Russian sanctions within the EU is the bloc's fear of angering national governments.. In addition, Brussels has limited powers to investigate and summon sanctions violators..

At present, the most vulnerable area of \u200b\u200bapplication of European sanctions is the attempt to identify and freeze the money, assets and companies owned in Europe by dozens of Russian oligarchs associated with Russian President Vladimir Putin.. Difficulties, in particular, are caused by attempts to determine the true owners of assets that can be registered with foreign companies and trusts or relatives..

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Recall that since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the EU has frozen about $ 12.5 billion belonging to Putin's oligarchs..