On Friday 23 June, the Council of the European Union formally adopted the 11th package of sanctions against Russia for its military aggression against Ukraine, the main aim of which is to prevent the circumvention of the European sanctions already adopted (see EUROPE 13206/2).
“By tackling sanctions circumvention, we will maximise pressure on Russia by depriving it further of the resources it so desperately needs to allow it to pursue its illegal war against Ukraine”, said the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, in a statement.
The EU27 will establish a new mechanism that could, as a last resort, ban the sale, supply, transfer or export to a third country of certain EU products or technologies that Russia is using for its war effort, once systemic cases of sanctions circumvention have been detected.
“This is the first time we are doing this”, stated a senior European official, who said that the mechanism would remain targeted at a specific product or technology subject to a restriction on exports from the EU.
Activating this mechanism, decided by unanimity of the Member States, will be possible if other attempts to remedy the problems identified have not been successful, such as a dialogue between the EU Special Envoy for Sanctions, David O’Sullivan, technical cooperation measures or sanctions targeting one or more companies.
To better combat the circumvention of European sanctions, the EU has also decided to prohibit the sale and transfer of intellectual property rights and trade secrets so that this intellectual property cannot be used to produce products outside the EU that have already been sanctioned. And, while Russian road transport operators are already banned in the EU, Russian trailers and semi-trailers will also be banned so that European road transport operators can no longer pick them up at the EU border, as observed in Poland.
The EU has been implementing an embargo on Russian oil and oil products since February. In order to prevent this measure from being circumvented, a ban on access to EU ports has been imposed on vessels which: - carry out ship-to-ship transfers suspected of breaching the European embargo or the G7 oil price cap; - fail to notify the competent authority at least 48 hours in advance of a ship-to-ship transfer in the exclusive economic zone of a Member State or within 12 nautical miles from the coast of that Member State; - manipulate or deactivate their navigation tracking systems when transporting Russian oil subject to the European embargo or the G7 price cap.
Several measures in the 11th package of sanctions are also aimed at restricting exports to Russia of products and some 15 technologies found on the battlefield in Ukraine, such as navigation systems, cameras for drones and infrared radiation systems.
New restrictions on exports of dual-use products and technologies will affect 87 companies that directly supply Russia’s military industry. Some of these companies are located in third countries such as China, Uzbekistan, the United Arab Emirates, Syria and Armenia. Four Iranian manufacturers of drones sold to the Russian army are also targeted.
The export ban on new and second-hand luxury cars above a certain engine capacity (1,900 cm³) and electric and hybrid luxury cars has also been extended.
No fewer than 71 individuals and 33 entities have been added to the lists of those subject to an EU asset freeze and exclusion order. This includes high-ranking Russian military personnel, people involved in the deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia, people responsible for looting Ukraine’s cultural heritage, as well as companies accredited to the Russian military complex and two banks (MRB Bank and CMR Bank) operating in several occupied Ukrainian oblasts. The head of the Belarusian railway network has also been sanctioned.
Finally, in an effort to counter Russian disinformation, the EU is extending its ban on broadcasting in the EU to five media outlets - RT Balkan, Oriental Review, Tsargrad, New Eastern Outlook and Katehon - controlled, directly or indirectly, by the Russian ruling class.
See the 11th sanctions package published in the Official Journal of the EU: https://aeur.eu/f/7oe (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)