Vladimir Putin – Photo EU Council
(BRUSSELS) – The European Union imposed sanctions against Russia’s president Vladimir Putin and its foreign minister Sergey Lavrov Friday, and adopted wide ranging individual and economic sanctions.
The EU has also agreed on a further package of individual and economic measures covering also Belarus in its response to the unprovoked and unjustified military aggression carried out by Russia against Ukraine.
“President Putin and his government started a war against an independent, sovereign neighbouring country,” said the EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell: “The behaviour of the Russian leadership constitutes a major threat to international peace and security. Today, we are replying with the strongest possible restrictive measures.”
He added that the EU was “united in its resolve, together with international partners and allies, to defend the peace order, international law and the rules based system.”
In addition to freezing the assets the Russian President and Minister of Foreign Affairs, the EU will impose restrictive measures on the members of the National Security Council of the Russian Federation who supported Russia’s immediate recognition of the two non-government controlled areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts of Ukraine as independent entities. Sanctions will also be extended to the remaining members of the Russian State Duma, who ratified the government decision of the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance between the Russian Federation and the two entities.
The EU will also target those individuals who facilitated the Russian military aggression from Belarus.
Financial sanctions
The package expands existing financial restrictions, cutting Russian access to the most important capital markets. It also prohibits the listing and provision of services in relation to shares of Russian state-owned entities on EU trading venues. In addition, it introduces new measures which significantly limit the financial inflows from Russia to the EU, by prohibiting the acceptance of deposits exceeding certain values from Russian nationals or residents, the holding of accounts of Russian clients by the EU Central Securities Depositories, as well as the selling of euro-denominated securities to Russian clients.
These sanctions will target 70% of the Russian banking market, and key state-owned companies, including in the field of defence. They will increase Russia’s borrowing costs, raise inflation and gradually erode Russia’s industrial base. Additionally measures are taken to prevent the Russian elite’s fortunes from being hidden in safe havens in Europe.
Energy sector
The EU will prohibit the sale, supply, transfer or export to Russia of specific goods and technologies in oil refining, and will introduce restrictions on the provision of related services.
By introducing such export ban, the EU intends to hit the Russian oil sector, and make it impossible for Russia to upgrade its oil refineries.
Russia’s export revenues accounted for EUR 24 billion in 2019.
Transport sector
The EU introduced an export ban covering goods and technology in the aviation and space industry, as well as a prohibition on the provision of insurance and reinsurance and maintenance services related to those goods and technology. The EU will also prohibit the provision of related technical and financial assistance.
This ban on the sale of all aircrafts, spare parts and equipment to Russian airlines will degrade one of the key sectors of Russia’s economy and the country’s connectivity, as three quarters of Russia’s current commercial air fleet were built in the EU, the US and Canada.
Technology sector
The EU imposed further restrictions on exports of dual-use goods and technology, as well as restrictions on exports of certain goods and technology which might contribute to Russia’s technological enhancement of its defence and security sector.
This will include products such as semiconductors or cutting-edge technologies.
Visa policy
Diplomats, other Russian officials, and business people will no longer be able to benefit from visa facilitation provisions, which allow privileged access to the EU. The EU stresses that the decision will not affect ordinary Russian citizens. The decision will enter into force on the day of the adoption.
The EU has condemned in the strongest possible terms Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified military aggression against Ukraine, as well as the involvement of Belarus in this aggression.
The EU is demanding that Russia immediately ceases its military actions, unconditionally withdraws all forces and military equipment from the entire territory of Ukraine and fully respects Ukraine’s territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence within its internationally recognised borders. The European Council calls on Russia and Russia-backed armed formations to respect international humanitarian law and stop their disinformation campaign and cyber-attacks.
Restrictive measures explained
EU restrictive measures in response to the crisis in Ukraine
