Member States ambassadors to the EU have agreed on a fourth package of sanctions against Russia, the French Presidency of the EU Council announced on Monday 14 March.
These measures, taken in consultation with the EU’s international partners, target individuals and entities involved in the aggression against Ukraine as well as several sectors of the Russian economy. They will be adopted by written procedure, which should end on Tuesday morning.
On Friday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced measures against Russian elites close to Vladimir Putin, their families and facilitators, and a ban on the export of all European luxury goods to Russia. According to a draft seen by Bloomberg, this would cover luxury goods worth more than €300 and the sale of luxury cars, boats and planes worth more than €50,000 and motorbikes worth more than €5,000.
The import of essential goods in the iron and steel sector from Russia, the “core sector of the Russian system”, is prohibited, as are investments, technology transfers, financial services, etc. for energy exploration and production.
In addition, Member State ambassadors approved a declaration to suspend Russia’s ‘most favoured nation’ status at the World Trade Organization (WTO), the French Presidency of the EU Council announced. This will mean that Russia will no longer be treated as an equal trading partner, as required by WTO rules. The statement calls as well for the suspension of the consideration of Belarus’ application to the organisation.
Ms von der Leyen also warned on Friday that the EU would work to suspend Russia’s rights in key multilateral financial institutions, including the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, and would ensure that Russia could not obtain funding, loans or other benefits from these institutions.
For his part, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki proposed on Monday that the assets of the Russian state and oligarchs frozen by the sanctions be permanently confiscated and earmarked for a fund for the reconstruction of Ukraine. “Freeze the Russian state’s assets completely, confiscate them. Freeze the assets of Russian oligarchs, big and small, businessmen and politicians. Let them serve the people, the unarmed victims of Putin’s regime. Let them be used to rebuild the state that is heroically defending its independence and sovereignty”, he told the media.
Furthermore, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, strongly condemned, on Sunday 13 March, the kidnapping of the mayors of Melitopol and Dniprorudne by the Russian armed forces. “This is a new attack on democratic institutions in Ukraine and an attempt to establish illegitimate alternative government structures in a sovereign country”, he said. On the same day, a group of MEPs warned, in a joint statement, that violations of the human rights of civilians and attacks on civilian infrastructure will not be forgotten and that all perpetrators will be prosecuted under international law.
See MEPs’ statement: https://aeur.eu/f/rp (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant and Léa Marchal)