Bypassing sanctions against Russia would amount to a criminal offence - EU Council

This was stated in an EU Council press release.

It will now be a criminal offence to circumvent sanctions against Russia. The new measure was commented on by Czech Justice Minister Pavel Blazek:

The EU has imposed an unprecedented number of sanctions targeting the Russian economy. To succeed, their implementation requires a concerted effort, and today's decision is a crucial tool to ensure that any attempts to circumvent these measures are stopped.

Placing sanctions violations on the criminal list is the first of two steps aimed at ensuring that sanctions are applied equally across the EU and preventing attempts to circumvent or violate EU measures

The proposal to list the offence as a criminal offence was made back in May.