If EU countries accept the new sanctions package, it will be the ninth since the war broke out in February. The previous eight “are already hitting hard,” says commission chair Ursula von der Leyen. But Russia is still not moving.
“Russia continues to sow death and destruction in Ukraine,” von der Leyen said in a video address on Twitter. “It deliberately targets civilians and civilian infrastructure to cripple the country as winter approaches.” He promises that “we will stand with Ukraine and make Russia pay for her cruelty”.
Frozen credits
The committee therefore wants to put the Russian military, defense industry and political parties on the sanctions list. This means that all assets in the EU will be frozen and Europeans will no longer be able to do business with them. The same fate would befall dozens of other ministers, MPs, governors and military officers. The sanctions are directed at “key individuals for Russia’s vicious and wanton rocket attacks on civilians, for the abduction of Ukrainian children in Russia and for the looting of Ukrainian agricultural products”.
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Rosneft and Gazprom
Among the three banks targeted by the commission is the Russian Regional Development Bank. It is part of the state oil company Rosneft and has the same role as Gazprombank for Gazprom. Such banks have so far often remained unaffected to prevent the EU from running out of needed oil and gas from Russia. The committee also proposes a ban on investment in Russia’s mining sector.
There will also be further export bans on products that can be used for warfare, if up to the committee. For example, it targets electronics, ICT equipment, chemicals and nerve agents.
Drones and drone engines can no longer be sold to Russia, nor to countries that may resell them, such as Iran. The committee also wants to suppress four Russian channels because they would be making propaganda.