OREANDA-NEWS  EU sanctions against Russia and Belarus have significantly increased the number of customs offenses in 2022 at the border with the Russian Federation, the Finnish customs reported on Friday.

"The huge increase in regulatory offenses is one of the most significant changes that occurred last year. In 2022, as a result of sanctions against Russia and Belarus, the number of regulatory offenses for which a preliminary investigation was conducted exceeded 300. Usually there were only a few cases of alleged violations in the field of regulation per year," Hannu Sinkkonen, head of the enforcement department of the Finnish Customs, is quoted in the message.
In 2022, the Finnish customs revealed 6,482 customs offenses, which is more than 1 thousand cases more than in 2021, the report says. In total, the Finnish customs prevented customs violations in 2022 in the amount of more than 100 million euros.

The Russian Federation has repeatedly stated that the country will cope with the sanctions pressure that the West began to exert on Russia several years ago and continues to strengthen. Moscow noted that the West lacks the courage to admit the failure of sanctions against the Russian Federation. In the Western countries themselves, opinions have repeatedly been voiced that anti-Russian sanctions are ineffective.