The EU slapped sweeping sanctions on Russian oligarchs — but now it's struggling to enforce them

The trade bloc is struggling to enforce the sanctions it slapped on Russia after the invasion of Ukraine.

Legal and manpower-related obstacles are making it difficult for the EU's 27 member states to enforce the sanctions. Most EU countries can only go as far as freezing assets when sanctions are in place. The same assets cannot be sold or seized by the state.

In most member states, this is not possible and a criminal conviction is needed to seize assets, according to the European Commission.

That means that an individual can live in a mansion that has been frozen.

Poland would have to change its constitution to be able to seize assets, according to a government spokesman. France has frozen around 850 million euros in assets belonging to individuals, but they can still use physical properties, the finance ministry told the news agency. Italian lawyers told the news agency that the country would have to start legal proceedings to seize frozen assets.

According to EU officials and government information, a small portion of the wealth of individuals who have been sanctioned has been impacted.

Tracking down the assets is a challenge, as many people have rearranged their holdings.

According to regulatory and corporate filings, steel tycoon Alexei Mordashov moved more than a billion dollars of his company's shares to an offshore tax haven the day he was hit with sanctions. The control of an investment company linked to Roman Abramovich was shifted to one of his business associates on the day Russia invaded Ukraine, according to The Wall Street Journal.

A spokesman for Alisher Usmanov said on Tuesday that the billionaire moved a lot of his assets into trusts for the purpose of estate planning.

The EC set up a task force last week to enforce the sanctions against Russians. According to a senior official from the trade bloc, the task force has not yet identified any assets that need to be frozen because of the risk of being sold or moved from the EU.

The EC wouldn't say if they all complied with the sanctions, and didn't reveal a value for frozen assets so far.

Insider sent a request for comment to the EC, but they did not reply immediately.