EU is preparing new sanctions against Russia
2022.12.07 13:54
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EU is preparing new sanctions against Russia
Budrigannews.com – On Wednesday, the European Commission made a proposal for a ninth set of sanctions against Russia in response to the country’s invasion of Ukraine. The proposed sanctions would add nearly 200 individuals and organizations to the EU sanctions list.
Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the Commission, stated that it supported new export controls and restrictions, particularly for dual-use goods like key chemicals, nerve agents, electronics, and IT components, as well as new sanctions against three additional Russian banks.
She stated in a statement that Russia “continues to bring death and destruction to Ukraine and is deliberately targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure, attempting to paralyze the country at the beginning of the winter.”
She went on to say that the EU wanted to put more pressure on Russia with a ninth package of sanctions because the first eight were already hard on Russia.
All 27 member states of the bloc must support sanctions, but most of the measures in the first eight packages were approved within weeks by their representative European Council, though some were dropped or diluted.
On October 5, the eighth package, which targeted a larger number of people and included additional trade restrictions, was approved.
The Russian armed forces, as well as individual officers and defense industries, members of the Russian parliament’s State Duma and Federation Council, ministers, governors, and political parties, were among the new individuals and entities proposed for the sanctions list, according to Von der Leyen.
She stated, “This list covers key figures in Russia’s brutal and deliberate missile strikes against civilians, the kidnapping of Ukrainian children and the theft of Ukrainian agricultural products.”
The Commission likewise proposed sanctions against three extra Russian banks, including a full exchange restriction on the Russian Local Improvement Bank “to additionally incapacitate Putin’s money machines”.
The Commission stated that it also aimed to restrict Russia’s access to unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and drones, as well as to prohibit the direct export of drone engine parts to Russia and any third countries, such as Iran, that could supply drones to Russia.