In reaction to the atrocities committed on Ukrainian civilians by the Russian army in Butcha, north of Kyiv, the European Commission unveiled on Tuesday 5 April a fifth set of sanctions targeting Russia and Belarus. This includes a European embargo on Russian coal and severe restrictions on maritime and road transport between Russia and the European Union. Work continues on further restrictive measures that would include Russian oil.
Speaking alongside the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, in a video posted on Twitter, Ursula von der Leyen listed the different pillars of the sanctions package that will be on the table of the Member States’ ambassadors to the EU (Coreper) on Wednesday:
(1) an import ban on Russian coal, “worth €4 billion per year”;
(2) “a full transaction ban on four key Russian banks”, which represent 23% of the market share in the Russian banking sector, including VTB, the second largest Russian bank.
VTB is one of seven Russian banks that were disconnected in early March from the Swift system, a financial architecture that facilitates the exchange of information on interbank payments (see EUROPE 12902/1);
(3) a ban on Russian vessels and Russian-operated vessels from accessing EU ports. According to Ms von der Leyen, “certain exemptions will cover essentials such as agricultural and food products, humanitarian aid as well as energy”;
The Commission also proposes “a ban on Russian and Belarusian road transport operators” to restrict the ability of Russian industry to source goods;
(4) “further targeted export bans worth €10 billion in which Russia is vulnerable”, with the Commission President citing “quantum computers and advanced semiconductors, sensitive machinery and transport equipment” sectors;
(5) “specific new import bans, worth €5.5 billion”, which will target “products from wood to cement, from seafood to liquor”. In doing so, “we also close loopholes between Russia and Belarus”, added Ms von der Leyen;
(6) a ban on participation of Russian companies in public procurement in the EU and the exclusion of all public financial support, both national and European, to Russian public bodies;
(7) Mr Borrell announced the extension of the list of Russian individuals and companies subject to sanctions, adding “dozens” of political and business figures as well as entities from the financial, military-industrial and transport sectors. Again, “we are not targeting the Russian people”, but “the Kremlin, the political and economic elites who support Putin’s war in Ukraine”, he stressed.
The High Representative also indicated that Russian diplomats from the Russian Federation’s mission to the EU would be declared personae non gratae “for activities contrary to their diplomatic status”. The decision, which will force 19 people to leave Belgium, the European External Action Service said later, is part of a similar move by many Member States.
Speaking in Luxembourg at the end of the Ecofin Council prior to the Commission’s announcements, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire spoke of a consensus among the EU27 to “include the energy sector” in the new package of sanctions, even if positions differed on “the scope and timing”. His German counterpart, Christian Lindner, had expressed his country’s support for a “gradual embargo on Russian coal”.
For Lithuanian Finance Minister Gintarė Skaistė, the EU must go much further by cutting off “imports of Russian oil, gas and coal”, excluding from the Swift system the Sberbank and Gazprombank banks active in gas trade with the EU, closing ports and roads to Russian goods and suspending Russia’s membership of the IMF and World Bank.
Further sanctions in preparation. Ms von der Leyen has already announced that work is underway on the imposition of additional sanctions, “including on oil imports”. And the Commission is considering ideas put forward by Member States, such as “specific taxes or payment channels”, such as ‘escrow accounts’ to secure certain commercial transactions, she added.
After the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, the two leaders will visit Kyiv this week (see other news). (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)