Brussels, 14 February 2023 (dpa/MIA) - The European Union added Russia and three other countries to its official list of tax havens on Tuesday at a meeting of EU finance ministers in Brussels.

The EU specifically cited Russia for failing to live up to commitments surrounding international holding companies, according to a statement from the Council of the EU.

Costa Rica, the Marshall Islands and the British Virgin Islands were added to the list along with Russia, bringing the total number of tax jurisdictions to fall afoul of the EU to 16 in total.

The EU also removed four countries from the tax haven list - Barbados, Jamaica, North Macedonia and Uruguay - after ruling that those countries had fulfilled their commitments, according to the statement.

Swedish Finance Minister Elisabeth Svantesson called on the listed countries "to improve their legal framework and to work towards compliance with international standards in taxation."

Svantesson chaired the meeting of EU finance ministers as Sweden currently holds the rotating six-month presidency of the EU.

Critics of the tax haven designations, however, charge the measures have little practical effect.

"Russia's inclusion on the list is above all a political signal," said German EU legislator Markus Ferber.

Ferber, who is a member of the conservative European People's Party group, said EU finance ministers "must link the list to painful sanctions" in order to fight tax evasion effectively.

A spokesperson for the charity and anti-poverty organization Oxfam described the practice as a "total whitewash" and criticized the removal of countries with zero corporate tax rates, such as Bermuda and the Cayman Islands, which was taken off the list in 2020.

Oxfam called for EU countries to be held to the same scrutiny as countries outside the bloc, singling out Luxembourg in particular as a tax haven worthy of being added to the EU list over its legal practices.