Dmitry explains that sanctions issues very rarely arise in isolation, and that as a general rule they fall into two categories:

• issues related to sanctions imposed on a specific person or entity (the possibility of and procedure for challenging their inclusion on the sanctions list, judicial challenges to unlawful actions of state authorities, legal action in response to a counterparty’s failure to fulfill its sanctions-related obligations etc.);

• assessments of the sanctions-related risks of specific transactions, payments and other actions.

"It is thus clear that almost any request for advice on sanctions issues will relate either to potential administrative or judicial proceedings, or to transactional activities, and thus a preliminary conclusion can be drawn as to whether it is possible to provide advice in a given case," Dmitry Stakheev notes. In his opinion, the EU regulator is most likely following the same logic when it points out that in general, the need for Russian companies to receive advice on the application of sanctions is questionable.

The only certain conclusion is that EU lawyers are prohibited from providing any form of advice to Russian companies or their European counterparties on how they can circumvent sanctions. It is equally clear that Russian companies are prohibited from receiving advice from European lawyers through their EU-based subsidiaries.

Dmitry Stakheev also points out that, despite the European Commission's recommendations, European consultants themselves may take an even more conservative stance and refuse to advise Russian individuals on non-prohibited matters.

The full article is available here.