The European Union is checking the increase of exports to Russia's neighboring states because of suspicions of sanctions evasion, David O'Sullivan, the European Union's special representative for sanctions, said in an interview with the Financial Times.

According to him, the rapid growth of exports to these states raises suspicions in the European Union that exported goods may be diverted to Russia.

“We see a massive fall-off in trade flows from the EU to Russia and unusual spikes in trade with other third countries, particularly with those in close vicinity to Russia,” he said.

He questioned whether sanctioned products could have been "leaking" into Russia in any form. According to the FT, the countries in question were Armenia, Kyrgyzstan and Turkey.

According to O'Sullivan, the EU plans to discuss possible circumvention of sanctions against the Russian Federation with partners, including the United States and the United Kingdom, on February 23.