Following Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine, the EU has adopted a series of restrictive measures and in March 2022 decided to set up a “Freeze and Seize” Task Force to reinforce rules on asset recovery and confiscation and contribute to the implementation of EU restrictive measures. In this context, on 25 May 2022, in addition to the Directive proposal on asset recovery and confiscation , the Commission presented a proposal for a Council Decision on adding the violation of EU restrictive measures to the list of EU crimes laid down in Article 83(1) TFEU, so opening the way to the harmonisation of this area of crime.