Local customs officials began to broadly interpret the sanctions regime.
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In Germany, it seems, they are scratching their heads about what other sanctions to impose on Russian citizens. It would seem that they have already tried everything, but the Russians do not give in. And then one of the Berlin officials came up with a new idea: let’s confiscate all cars with Russian numbers seen on the territory of Germany. Two such cases are already known: in the first case, the motorist was in transit through the territory of Germany, and in the second case, he generally had a residence permit in this country.
It has not yet been decided what will be done with the seized cars – whether they will be sent to the needs of the Ukrainian army (apparently, instead of a new batch of Leopard tanks) or distributed to needy citizens. But a circular has already been sent to the border service and customs officials: cars with the Russian tricolor in the registration numbers must be removed and driven to special parking lots. And if the owners of the car resist, threaten them with imprisonment of up to five years according to German law.
The Germans, as they say in such cases, posed as rags and referred to the regulation of the Council of the European Union of 2014, which prohibits Russians from importing a number of goods into the territory of EU countries, including cars. . The fact that in this case we are not talking about goods for sale, but about private property used for personal purposes and temporarily imported into the territory of Germany for legal reasons is not taken into account. In this regard, the Russian Embassy in Germany recommends that Russian citizens refrain from coming to this country in cars with Russian registration until the situation is clarified.
“Germany has taken another step on its way to a complete break with Russia,” Kirill Koktysh, a professor at MGIMO’s Department of Political Theory, said in a comment to Radio Komsomolskaya Pravda. – In such an unconvincing way, the German authorities want not so much to prove the legitimacy of their course to their own citizens, but to teach a lesson, from their point of view, to as many Russians as possible. Perhaps, through the courts, some of the Russian citizens will be able to return their property, but they will waste a lot of blood.
– Cars are just the beginning, – lawyer Maria Yarmysh is sure. – In addition, expensive bags, accessories, any item worth more than 300 euros will be taken from Russians, interpreting it as a violation of the sanctions regime. Germany is a pioneer in this method, but surely the rest of the EU countries will follow suit. So the Russians should think about whether to go to European countries. And if you do this, you better go with duffel pants and duffel bags.
