The European Union on Tuesday added Russia to its tax haven blacklist. The development comes amid the Western attempt to curb "Russian aggression" in Ukraine.

Earlier, European Union finance ministers said Russia, Costa Rica, the British Virgin Islands and the Marshall Islands would be added to the EU list of tax havens.

When deciding on development cooperation and other commercial links with third nations, the EU took into account who is on its list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes, according to the news agency Reuters.

"The Russian Federation has a harmful preferential tax regime (International Holding Companies) and has not resolved this issue," the draft conclusions prepared for the EU finance ministers' meeting said.

"Marshall Islands facilitates offshore structures and arrangements aimed at attracting profits without real economic substance by failing to take all necessary actions to ensure the effective implementation of substance requirements," they said.

American Samoa, Anguilla, the Bahamas, British Virgin Islands, Costa Rica, Fiji, Guam, Marshall Islands, Palau, Panama, Russian Federation, Samoa, Trinidad and Tobago, Turk and Caicos Islands, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Vanuatu are among the 16 nations on the EU list, which was created in 2017 in response to revelations of widespread tax evasion and avoidance schemes.