In Poland, fines for violating sanctions against Russia have risen sharply

In Poland, the number of fines for violating sanctions imposed in connection with Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine has sharply increased. In the first seven months of 2026 alone, the Polish tax administration issued 110 decisions on imposing fines totaling over 55.6 million zlotys.

This was reported by Rzeczpospolita, citing data from the National Tax Administration of Poland (KAS).

The pace of applying sanction penalties has significantly accelerated this year. In all of 2025, KAS issued 33 decisions on fines totaling over 8 million zlotys. Thus, in January–July 2026 alone, the number of decisions already exceeded the figure for the entire previous year by more than three times, and their total amount increased almost sevenfold.

In total, since the introduction of new restrictions after the start of the full-scale war, Polish authorities have imposed 223 fines for violating sanctions. Their amount reached approximately 106.4 million zlotys. The penalties affected 183 entities, including both companies and individuals.

One of the largest detected violations was a scheme to supply expensive cars to Russia via Belarus. A company from the Silesian Voivodeship in the first half of 2023 sold 177 cars and one motorcycle with a total value of over 19 million euros outside the European Union. The vehicles ultimately reached Russia via Belarus and were registered there.

For this episode, the Polish tax administration imposed the maximum fine of 20 million zlotys. KAS explained its size by the scale of operations and the fact that the seller was aware of the final destination of the vehicles.

Despite sanctions, Poland's trade with Russia has not completely ceased. According to Polish statistics, in 2021 exports to the Russian Federation amounted to about 31 billion zlotys, while in 2025 they decreased to 9.1 billion zlotys.

The largest part of Polish exports to Russia last year consisted of chemical industry products worth 3 billion zlotys, foodstuffs worth 1.9 billion zlotys, as well as machinery, mechanical equipment, and electronics worth approximately 852 million zlotys.

At the same time, in 2025 Poland imported goods from Russia worth 5.7 billion zlotys. Among the main categories were chemical industry products worth 3.4 billion zlotys, base metals worth 1.1 billion zlotys, and animal products worth 716 million zlotys.

Based on materials from: Rzeczpospolita, Krajowa Administracja Skarbowa