The export ban on luxury goods to Russia or Belarus has been in force since 15 March 2022, that is, since as early as the 4th sanctions package. The initiative taken by the Nordic countries Finland and Sweden in January 2026 may therefore come as a surprise, as they described it as intolerable that Russians are still drinking expensive French red wine, smoking cigars, and eating truffles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How does that come about?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The EU’s luxury goods ban<\/strong> against Russia is set out in Article 3h of Regulation (EU) No 833\/2014 and governs the prohibition on exporting luxury goods to Russia. The specific list of the goods concerned is set out in Annex XVIII to Regulation (EU) No 833\/2014.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For Belarus, the corresponding rule is found in Article 1ga of Regulation (EC) No 765\/2006 in conjunction with Annex XXV to Regulation (EC) No 765\/2006.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The lists are not identical, but both clearly provide that cigars and truffles fall within the listing of luxury goods in the respective annexes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nevertheless, there is an exception in Article 3h(2a) of Regulation (EU) No 833\/2014:<\/p>\n\n\n\n “(2a) The prohibitions referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2 shall apply to the luxury goods listed in Annex XVIII insofar as their value exceeds EUR 300 per item, unless otherwise specified in that Annex.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n For certain goods, Annex XVIII even sets higher value thresholds (for electrical household appliances, for example, the threshold only starts at \u20ac750). At first glance, these thresholds may appear to leave room for creative approaches, such as splitting individual deliveries into product components, artificially reducing the smallest external packaging units, or granting cash discounts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n