Abstract
The issue of "sanctions" applied by states and some international organizations (especially the EU) that are not directly injured subjects is one of the most complex issues in the theory and practice of contemporary international law, not only because of their frequency and scope in the last two decades. It has come into the spotlight again because of the very extensive and progressively supplemented restrictive measures imposed by the EU against Russia, firstly following the annexation of Crimea in 2014, but more importantly in response to the aggression against Ukraine since February 2022.
These coercive measures, often also referred to as 'sanctions', constitute a vast set of measures, with additions and exceptions, which have different content but also different legal nature. These include diplomatic measures, restrictions of an economic and financial nature, transport restrictions, both blanket sanctions (against the state) and sanctions targeting individual state bodies and private individuals deemed to be linked to the Russian government and supporting its aggressive policies.