Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia proposed, during the European Council of 20-21 October, new sanctions against Russia in a ninth package of measures.
According to a document obtained by EUROPE, these sanctions would cover many sectors: energy, technology, finance, transport, services, imports, real estate, propaganda and luxury goods.
The countries propose a ban on the import of liquefied petroleum gas products and cooperation with Russia on nuclear energy, but also a ban on the import of uranium.
They also highlight the ban on the import of diamonds and the export of wine refrigerators, all unmanned aerial vehicles “including the cheapest”, but also electricity generators.
For Warsaw, Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius, it is necessary to remove additional Russian and Belarusian banks from Swift, “starting with Gazprombank, Alfa Bank, Rosbank and Tinkoff Bank”. They also want the EU to introduce a ban on insurance services similar to the one put in place against Belarus, i.e. a ban on the provision of insurance or reinsurance to Russia, its government, public bodies, corporations and agencies and to persons or entities acting on their behalf. Poland and the Baltic States want as well to ban the transfer of dollar banknotes to Russia.
The four countries also promote the extension of the scope of the ban on entry into European ports to any vessel “owned, hired, chartered or operated by any Russian natural or legal person, entity or body”. In addition, the scope of the ban on IT services should include, for example, software or cyber security services, and the scope of commercial services should include marketing, market research and opinion polling services.
The countries propose a ban on the sale of real estate to Russian citizens and companies and an extension of the ban on holding positions in the governing bodies of Russian entities, legal persons or bodies that are more than 50% controlled or owned by the state. They also want to see a ban on funding by the Russian state and its affiliates, including oligarchs, of EU-registered entities.
According to these countries, the list of television stations and websites banned in the EU for propaganda should be extended.
Poland and the Baltic States would also like to see the transition period for steel products introduced in the 8th sanctions package reduced, arguing that a two-year period “disturbs the market in favour of Belgian and Italian companies”.
Finally, the four countries call for a better alignment of sanctions against Russia and Belarus - notably on lime and synthetic rubber - and a ban on the export to Belarus of products used in the manufacture of cigarette filter tips. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant and Pascal Hansens)