EU Representative: Sanctions Against Russia Lack Legal Binding Force

The European Union's (EU) Special Representative for Sanctions, David O'Sullivan, stated that the EU's restrictive measures against Russia are not legally binding under international law. O'Sullivan argued that the sanctions derive their legitimacy from the 'moral and economic power' of the broad coalition supporting them, rather than from a United Nations (UN) endorsement.According to the Kyiv Independent, a Ukraine-based newspaper, O'Sullivan emphasized that the sanctions' moral and economic force stems from the wide coalition behind them. The report noted that the EU's sanctions against Moscow are largely justified by political and moral arguments rather than legal ones.