In the evening of Monday 28 February, the European Union officially adopted sanctions against 26 persons and the Gas Industry Insurance Company Sogaz, with publication of the legal acts in the Official Journal.
These sanctions were politically agreed by EU Foreign Ministers on Friday 25 February and announced shortly afterwards by EU High Representative Josep Borrell (see EUROPE 12899/2).
Among those sanctioned are several Russian ministers: Dmitry Chernyshenko, Deputy Prime Minister for Tourism, Sports, Culture and Communication, Irek Faizullin, Minister for Construction and Housing, and Vitaly Savelyev, Minister for Transport. The Secretary of the General Council of the United Russia party and First Deputy Chairman of the Council of the Russian Federation, Andrey Turchak, is also affected by the sanctions.
Four high-ranking officers are sanctioned, all of them from Russia’s southern military district, which has taken part in military actions against Ukraine.
The EU has also adopted restrictive measures against businessmen and oligarchs close to the Russian president, including the CEOs of energy companies Rosneft, Igor Sechin, and Transneft, Nikolay Tokarev, the chairman of Severgroup, Alexey Mordaschov, the chairman of PJSC Promsvyazbank, Petr Fradkov, two shareholders of Alfa Group, a conglomerate that includes Alfa Bank, and the chairman of the board of directors of Moscow Sheremetyevo International Airport.
The Russian president’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, as well as six journalists, are being sanctioned, in particular for anti-Ukrainian propaganda in the Russian media.
Finally, the Gas Industry Insurance Company Sogaz, a joint stock company, is subject to restrictions because of its work on the Kerch Strait Bridge, which helped consolidate the illegal annexation of the Crimean peninsula by the Russian Federation.
With these new additions to the list, 680 persons and 53 entities are being sanctioned for actions undermining the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine.
See the legal act: https://aeur.eu/f/k2 (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)