On Wednesday 15 February, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, presented the new package of sanctions against Russia, which Ms von der Leyen would like to see adopted before the 1st anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine, on 24 February.
“We are proposing new export bans worth more than €11 billion to deprive the Russian economy of key technologies and industrial products”, she announced.
To have “maximum impact”, the Commission proposes to target industrial products that Russia needs, but of which a shortage cannot be rectified by third countries, such as electronics, specialised vehicles, machinery parts, truck spare parts and jet engines.
The Commission also proposes to sanction construction products that may be destined for the Russian military, such as antennas or cranes.
It also wants to restrict exports of dual-use goods and advanced technology products with controls on 47 new electronic components that can be used in Russian weapons systems, including drones, missiles and helicopters, and on rare-earth materials and specific thermal cameras. “With this, we will have banned all technological products found on the battlefield. And we will make sure they don’t find other ways to do it”, warned Ms von der Leyen.
She also announced that seven Iranian entities would be added to the dual-use sanctions imposed on Russia for their role in the manufacture and supply of vehicles.
The 10th sanctions package should also introduce new measures to prevent circumvention of the measures already adopted. “We will track down oligarchs who try to hide or sell their assets to escape sanctions”, she warned, adding that together with the Member States, the Commission will draw up an inventory of all frozen Russian central bank assets held in the EU.
For his part, the EU High Representative, Josep Borrell, announced that he would be sanctioning nearly 100 additional individuals and entities, such as those responsible for military activities or political decisions - including senior government officials and parliamentarians - propaganda and disinformation, as well as those involved in the “inhumane abductions, deportations and forced adoption of Ukrainian children in Russia, and those who enable the plundering of Ukrainian resources”.
“We will again hit hard the Russian military and defence sector, related organisations and those responsible for developing drones that target civilians and civilian infrastructure”, he added.
Borrell also proposed extending sanctions to the proxy authorities and so-called judges of the four illegally annexed Ukrainian regions - Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia - who give false legitimacy to the Russian leadership and its illegal decisions.
In addition, Ms von der Leyen announced that a sanctions coordinators’ forum will be held next week, bringing together the EU’s international partners and Member States to strengthen enforcement efforts.
In a speech to the European Parliament, Borrell said that while it was true that the Russian economy and growth rate had not collapsed as hoped, things were changing “thanks to our sanctions, thanks to the capping of oil prices”. Therefore, according to him, hydrocarbon revenues have fallen, the public deficit is soaring and the trade balance in January was the lowest since 2007.
European Parliament pushes for broader sanctions
In the resolution they are expected to adopt on Thursday 16 February, MEPs are expected to call on the Council to adopt this 10th package of sanctions by the end of February and to “considerably broaden its scope, in particular in the economic and energy sectors, by banning imports of Russian fossil fuels, uranium and diamonds”.
The European Parliament would also like to see sanctions adopted against all those associated with the ‘Wagner Group’ and other Russian-funded armed groups, militias and proxies. It also calls on the EU to take very tough action against companies, associations or individuals involved in circumventing the sanctions.
See the draft resolution: https://aeur.eu/f/5c2 (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)