On Wednesday, the 21st of June, European Union (EU) member states agreed on a new package of sanctions against the Russian Federation.
Sweden, which presides over the EU at the moment, has announced the new package of sanctions will include preventive measures against the possible circumvention of existing sanctions, as well as the addition of new legal and private persons to “black lists”.
President of the European Commission (EC) Ursula von der Leyen welcomed the new sanctions.
She said the new package of sanctions will strike at [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s war machine, tightening export restrictions and acting against structures that support the Kremlin. She added that measures to combat circumvention of sanctions will prevent Russia from acquiring goods that can are prohibited to be sold to this country due to existing sanctions.
More details about new sanctions will be reported later this week,
once the package of sanctions has been approved by ambassadors of EU member states in writing.
Since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine last year, the European Union has imposed a total of ten stages of sanctions against Russia. This will be the eleventh. Sanctions were introduced for companies and banks, as well as entire sectors. More than 1 000 private persons have been subjected to asset-freezing and entry restrictions.
A great deal of effort was put into plugging loops in commercial regulations – all to prevent Putin’s regime from acquiring goods necessary to continue the war.
However, aside from the previous sanctions against Iran, which supplies Russia with attack drones, this will be the first time when it was decided to impose sanctions against traders in third countries.
New sanctions provide for limiting exports of certain goods to countries that are used to send sanctioned goods to Russia. Usually anti-Russian sanctions are circumvented through Kazakhstan, Armenia, United Arab Emirates and China.
Turkey responds to attempts to circumvent sanctions rather selectively, as concluded by EU experts. The new package of EU sanctions was initially initiated in the beginning of May. Then there were several weeks of discussions among member states.
The idea to turn against countries that help Russia circumvent sanctions initially cause concerns from several EU member states about possible counter-actions, including from China, which could potentially negatively affect trade. This is why the new package of sanctions employs a very cautious approach.
EC’s president previously mentioned that EU export restrictions on Russia affect goods sales of which before the war reached approximately EUR 50 billion a year. This is equal to 55% of EU exports to Russia.
Import restrictions on Russian goods apply to 60% of the pre-war volume of goods, reaching approximately EUR 90 billion.
Also read: NATO summit will promise aid to Ukraine to help modernise their army