After measures were adopted on Friday 25 February (see EUROPE 12898/1) and in the face of the intensification of the Russian attack on Ukraine, the European Union announced additional sanctions against Russia the following evening.
“Sanctions have a cost (for the EU, editor’s note), we have to be ready to pay this price now because if not, we will have to pay a much bigger price in the future”, warned the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, on Monday 28 February.
While at Thursday’s summit and the EU foreign ministers’ meeting on Friday, the Member States did not agree on excluding Russia from the Swift system - Italy, Hungary and Germany were opposed - European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced, on Saturday, that there was an agreement, in coordination with the G7 partners.
A number of Russian banks have been excluded from the Swift system since the opening of banks on Monday (see other news). “We need to allow the financial system to work so that people can send money to their relatives, pay for things, because there is still a need to trade with Russia. But this is carefully calibrated to create maximum damage to the Russian financial system while maintaining a minimum level of interconnections with other financial systems”, he explained.
In addition, the G7 decided that the Russian central bank will no longer be able to use its international currency reserves. According to Borrell, the blocked funds represent just under 50% of the bank’s reserves.
The EU Foreign Ministers also decided to sanction more people and entities, including oligarchs, political figures who have a political role in the Russian system, including propagandists and the military. According to Borrell, one of the best ways to fight Putin is to fight the dirty money that comes from the corruption of those who support the Russian president.
The G7 members also announced on Saturday that they would set up a transatlantic task force to ensure the effective implementation of their financial sanctions by identifying and freezing the assets of sanctioned individuals and companies present on their territory. “We will work to detect and disrupt the movement of ill-gotten gains and deprive these individuals of the ability to hide their assets around the world”, they also warned.
On Monday 28 February, Switzerland announced that it was joining the full range of EU sanctions, a decision welcomed by the High Representative. He said that without Berne’s involvement, European decisions would not have been as effective.
Sanctions against Belarus
The President of the European Commission also announced new measures against Belarus. “We will target the other aggressor in this war, namely the Lukashenko regime, which is complicit in this unusually violent attack on Ukraine”, she announced on Sunday 27 February.
“We will introduce restrictive measures against the most important sectors in the country. This will have the effect of stopping their exports of everything from mineral fuels to tobacco, wood and wood products, cement, iron and steel”, she announced, adding that the export restrictions introduced on dual-use goods for Russia would be extended to Belarus.
Airspace closures
Ursula von der Leyen also announced the closure of EU airspace to Russian aircraft (see other news). According to the Commission, this includes all Russian-owned, Russian-registered and Russian-controlled aircraft. They will no longer be able to land in, take off from nor fly over EU territory. The measure will apply to all aircraft owned, chartered or controlled by a Russian natural or legal person, “ including private jets owned by oligarchs”.
Throughout the weekend, Member States had announced, one after the other, the closure of their airspace to Russian aircraft. In retaliation, Russia has banned the use of its airspace by airlines from the 36 countries that have closed their skies.
Blocking RT and Sputnik
Finally, the High Representative announced a ban on the broadcasting of RT and Sputnik in the EU (see other news). “We need to tackle disinformation, counter the (Russian) state-controlled narrative, disinformation is becoming massive. There is an all-out propaganda war”, Mr Borrell said. He also announced additional support for independent Ukrainian and Russian media. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)