The EU sanctions against Russia are “a slow-acting poison, a bit like arsenic,” said Josep Borrell, the European Commission’s foreign policy chief, on Wednesday in the European Parliament. And the EU will soon increase the dose of this poison. Because while Borrell and his superior, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, were discussing the Ukraine war with MPs in Strasbourg, the 27 EU ambassadors of the member states were debating the tenth package of sanctions in Brussels. The governments want to adopt that next week, on the anniversary of the attack on Ukraine.
Von der Leyen announced in parliament that “new trade bans and new controls for technology exports to Russia” were planned worth a total of eleven billion euros. “Specifically, we are proposing restrictions on dozens of electronic components used in Russian weapon systems such as drones, missiles and helicopters,” said the former defense minister. And since Iran is supplying drones to Russia, Iranian companies are also being targeted.
The Süddeutsche Zeitung a draft of the sanctions package is available. Specifically, the bans on Russian exports are said to include rubber and asphalt. When it comes to the ban on European deliveries to Russia, trucks, construction machinery and pumps are mentioned in addition to electronic parts. That could also affect German car and mechanical engineering groups.
Brussels is also planning restrictions on a Russian sovereign wealth fund and other Russian banks: Rosbank, Tinkoff Bank and Alfa Bank. In addition, Russians are to be banned from sitting on the executive committees of strategically important European companies, such as electricity suppliers. Six months ago, the EU states decided that Europeans would no longer be allowed to hold posts in the top bodies of Russian state-owned companies – a Lex Gerhard Schröder. The former chancellor headed the supervisory board of the Russian oil company Rosneft for years.
What happens to frozen assets?
In addition, European financial groups are soon to provide information about whether they hold assets of the Russian central bank. The EU and its allies froze central bank reserves after war broke out; in the EU alone it should be 34 billion euros. In the fall, the commission suggested putting the money into a fund and paying the proceeds to the Ukrainian government. After a peace agreement, the fund could then be transferred back to Russia. But for such a project better information is needed.
The EU states also want to put other people and organizations on the sanctions list. This means that their assets in Europe will be frozen and those affected will no longer be allowed to enter the country. So far, Brussels has fined 1,386 people and 171 organizations in this way because of the war and the earlier annexation of Crimea. Now about 130 could be added, including army and state officials or journalists working for propaganda media. The 27 member states must agree on all sanctions unanimously – it may be a few days before they succeed.