European prosecutors may get the right to pursue violators of sanctions against the Russian Federation
The head of EU diplomacy, Kaja Kallas, has proposed expanding the powers of the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) so that it can investigate and bring to court cases against companies and individuals who help Russia and Belarus circumvent European sanctions.
Politico reports on the initiative, citing two diplomats familiar with the course of the discussion. Kallas raised the issue on September 9 at a meeting with ambassadors of European Union countries, but has not yet presented a concrete legislative project.
The idea is to give EPPO the ability to conduct cross-border cases against individuals and companies within the EU that violate bans on cooperation with sanctioned Russian and Belarusian entities or carry out prohibited operations.
In particular, this concerns schemes for supplying Russia with sensitive goods and components that can be used by its military-industrial complex, as well as financial operations and money laundering that help circumvent restrictions.
The problem is not the absence of criminal liability
Violating sanctions in the EU is already a criminal offense. In 2024, the European Union adopted common minimum rules that obliged countries to criminalize, among other things, trade in prohibited goods, conducting prohibited financial operations, assisting in the circumvention of asset freezes, and concealing the true owners of property.
However, it is predominantly national law enforcement agencies that have to directly investigate such crimes and bring perpetrators to justice. Due to differences in legislation, prosecutorial practices, and resources among countries, the application of European sanctions remains uneven.
Kallas's proposal aims to solve this problem: instead of a set of separate national investigations, a single EU body would be able to manage complex cross-border schemes for circumventing sanctions.
EPPO already partially deals with sanctions circumvention
The European Public Prosecutor's Office has been operating since 2021 and currently primarily investigates crimes against the financial interests of the EU – fraud involving European funds, corruption, significant cross-border VAT fraud, and money laundering connected to such crimes.
At the same time, EPPO can already intervene in cases related to sanctions circumvention if there is also a crime against the EU budget. For example, if the import of a prohibited Russian product is concealed behind false customs declarations and leads to non-payment of customs duties or VAT.
In July 2026, EPPO reported on such an investigation in Poland. According to investigators, a company imported Russian birch plywood, passing it off as a product from Kazakhstan. The scheme could have avoided approximately €206 thousand in customs payments and €47 thousand in VAT. It was the presence of customs and tax fraud that gave the European Public Prosecutor's Office grounds to deal with this case.
Another notable case EPPO revealed in Lithuania. Two citizens of Belarus concealed links with Russian and Belarusian military-industrial complexes in order to obtain European funding for developing high-precision satellite technologies. After the case was completed, EPPO chief Laura Codruța Kövesi directly stated that this case demonstrates the need to expand the prosecutor's office's competence to include circumvention of EU sanctions.
The idea has been pushed before
The discussion about transferring sanctions cases to the European Public Prosecutor's Office has been ongoing for years. France and Germany supported expanding EPPO's mandate already after the start of the full-scale Russian invasion, and in 2025 this issue was again discussed by EU justice ministers.
At that time, no agreement was reached. Euractiv noted that one of the main arguments of supporters of the reform was the cross-border nature of the schemes: Russian goods can pass through third countries, companies and banks in several jurisdictions, while criminal proceedings remain tied to an individual state.
For a full expansion of EPPO's mandate, Kallas's political statement alone will not be enough. Under the current procedure, such a decision requires the consent of all EU countries at the level of the European Council after consultations with the European Parliament.
However, the situation has changed compared to previous years. In August 2026, Hungary joined the European Public Prosecutor's Office, after which 25 of the 27 EU member states participate in the EPPO mechanism. Only Denmark and Ireland remain outside it.
EU shifts focus from new sanctions to their implementation
Kallas's initiative emerged against the backdrop of increasing attention from Brussels not only to imposing new restrictions against Moscow but also to the actual implementation of already existing sanctions.
After the start of the full-scale war, the EU significantly expanded restrictions against Russian energy, banks, the military-industrial complex, and technology exports. At the same time, companies from third countries that help Moscow obtain prohibited goods or carry out payments are increasingly being added to sanctions lists.
If Kallas's proposal ultimately gains the necessary support, for European businesses this will mean a significant change in the control model: cases concerning complex schemes for circumventing sanctions could be centrally managed by an independent EU prosecutor's office with a network of delegated prosecutors in most bloc countries.
At this stage, however, this is only a political initiative. Politico notes that Kallas did not present a concrete legislative proposal during the meeting with ambassadors.
Based on materials from: Politico, Euractiv, European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO)
