As punitive measures for the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the EU states are focusing on three areas in particular. According to reports, there should have been discrepancies in individual measures.
The heads of state and government of the EU approved a comprehensive package of sanctions against Russia at a special summit on Thursday. The punitive measures affect, among other things, the areas of energy, finance and transport. In addition, there should be export controls for certain products and restrictions on visa policy.
US President Joe Biden also commented on the sanctions, Here you can read more about it.
According to reports, disagreements arose in the vote. The US “New York Times” reports that four states, including Germany, do not want to pass sanctions against Russian President Vladimir Putin at this stage, with the aim of keeping the channels of communication open.
Ukraine pushes for Swift ban
Also controversial is the decision For now, Russia is not out of the banking communication network Swift rule out. Ukraine is pushing for it. Anyone opposed to such a move also has the “blood of innocent Ukrainian men, women and children on their hands,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba tweeted. Chancellor Olaf Scholz, on the other hand, was cautious and said it was necessary to withhold certain punitive measures in case the situation escalated further.
An expulsion from Swift is considered a kind of “economic nuclear bomb”. As a result, Russian financial institutions would be excluded from the global financial system. In addition, export bans for natural gas, for example, were not planned.
(Source: t-online/ha)
However, it is considered quite possible in EU circles that there will be an expulsion from Swift at a later date and that Russia itself will stop supplying the EU with natural gas. So far, the Russian state-owned company has been delivering Gazprom according to the EU Commission around 40 percent of the gas consumed in the EU.
Banks are to be cut off from EU financial markets
According to previous reports, sanctions against the financial sector are primarily aimed at cutting off banks from EU financial markets. In the future, they should no longer be able to borrow or lend money in the EU. US President Biden had announced that certain Russian banks, including the second largest, would no longer be able to do business in US dollars.
In addition, the refinancing of Russian state-owned companies in the EU should be prevented. Your shares will no longer be traded in the EU. Something similar is planned for the energy sector.
Export controls for high-tech products and software
The main purpose of the sanctions against the transport sector is to cut off the supply of spare parts and other technology to the Russian aviation industry. This could have a huge impact with relatively little effort and even shut down entire fleets, it said on Thursday in Brussels. The export controls for high-tech products and software are intended to make it difficult for other key Russian industries to develop further. The country could be hit hard in the medium and long term, it said in Brussels.
At the same time, it was emphasized that the point was not to meet Russian citizens. The punitive measures are aimed at those who support Putin’s aggressive policies.
UK bans Russian airline from flying
Great Britain had previously imposed sanctions and, among others, the Russian state airline Aeroflot issued a flight ban. In addition, the accounts of other Russian businessmen from the banking and defense sectors would be frozen, said the British head of government Boris Johnson in parliament. Russia’s President Wladimir Putin will never be able to “wash the blood of Ukraine from his hands,” Johnson said.
The British government had previously summoned the Russian ambassador to London. In the conversation with Ambassador Andrei Kelin, Foreign Minister Liz Truss sharply criticized the “unprovoked and unjustified” Russian invasion of Ukraine, according to ministry sources Russia international “pariah”. According to the ministry, it was an extremely tense meeting, at the end of which Truss “threw out” the ambassador when he began repeating the “Kremlin’s incredible propaganda”.