EU introduces measures to combat sale of cultural property illegally exported from Ukraine

The 14th package of EU sanctions against Russia includes measures to combat the import and sale of historical and cultural property illegally exported from Ukraine. 

The approved decision states that it is prohibited to purchase, import, transfer and export Ukrainian objects of cultural value and other objects of archaeological, historical, cultural, religious significance or scientific rarity if there are sufficient grounds to believe that they were illegally exported from Ukraine. 

In addition, the package restricts the acceptance of applications for registration of certain intellectual property rights in the EU by Russian citizens and companies in response to steps taken by the Russian authorities and courts that unlawfully deprive EU intellectual property rights of protection in Russia. 

In addition, the new EU sanctions include measures against Russian liquefied natural gas. Moreover, the new package targets tankers belonging to Russia's oil "shadow fleet". 

As previously reported, the new package of EU sanctions against Russia includes additional tools to combat the circumvention of existing restrictive measures.

The restrictive measures also apply to the System for Transfer of Financial Messages (SPFS) developed by the Central Bank of Russia as an analogue of the SWIFT system.