CYIL vol. 14 (2023)

PETER MATUŠKA – NIKOLAS SABJÁN

CYIL 14 (2023)

About the authors: JUDr. Peter Matuška, PhD., LLM. is working at the Ministry of Finance of the Slovak Republic as a legal expert in international law. His main tasks are international investment policy, international arbitration, and negotiation of BITs. He also represented the Slovak Republic at investment experts’ meetings in Brussels, ICSID, and UNCITRAl. He holds an Advanced LLM master’s degree from Leiden University (Public International Law with specialization on International Dispute Settlement). Mgr. Nikolas Sabján, PhD., LL.M is an assistant professor at the Comenius University in Bratislava, Faculty of Law. He teaches legal theory and philosophy of law, and he has been responsible for supervising public international law moot courts. He holds a master’s degree from Leiden University (Public International Law) and he completed his PhD. in 2021 at the Comenius University, Faculty of Law. His research focuses on public international law, human rights law, and legal philosophy/theory. Introduction International sanctions 1 came again to the fore after the Russian federation initiated its full-scale military invasion against Ukraine in February 2022. Some dubbed this as a “watershed moment for sanctions” 2 and meanwhile, the traditional debates concerning sanctions have been reinvigorated again. 3 On the political level, the European Union (EU) did not hesitate too much and immediately reacted against the invasion by imposing sanctions on an unprecedented scale. So far, it has adopted 10 packages of sanctions and there is an ongoing debate about the 11 th package. 4 1 More precisely, the EU adopts “restrictive measures”, a term used also in the relevant legal texts. We are using “restrictive measures” and “sanctions” interchangeably in the text. 2 CHACHKO, E., and BENTON HEATH, J., ‘A Watershed Moment for Sanctions? Russia, Ukraine, and the Economic Battlefield’ [2022] 116(1) AJIL Unbound . 3 On the politico-economic sphere, the question of the effectiveness of sanctions is an ongoing and hotly debated issue. In the context of recent sanctions against Russia, see for instance: RIBAKOVA, E., ‘Sanctions against Russia will worsen its already poor economic prospects’ ( Bruegel , 02 May 2023) ; IBADOGHLU, G., ‘What impact have EU sanctions had on the Russia Economy?’ ( LSE Blog, 13 March 2023) ; AGRAWAL, R., ‘Are U.S. Sanctions on Russia Working?’ Foreign Policy (07 February 2023). The international legal discourse focused upon different aspects of sanctions on Russia, for example the possibility of freezing and seizing Russian assets. See: FRANCHINI, D., ‘Seizure of Russian State Assets: State Immunity and Countermeasures ( Articles of War , 08 March 2023) ; WUERTH BRUNK, I., ‘Countermeasures and the Confiscation of Russian Central Bank Assets’ ( Lawfare , 01 May 2023) . 4 There is currently a discussion about the character of this 11 th package of sanctions – some are arguing that there should be a complete ban on exports to Russia, except in agriculture and pharmaceutical sector, while others are emphasizing the need to focus on circumvention, as there has been concern about sanctions evasion. See: NARDELLI, A., ‘EU Aims to Target Nations Through Which Russia Evades Sanctions’ Bloomberg (04 May 2023).

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