EU imposes more sanctions on Belarus and Russia
lexander Lukashenko - Photo BELARUS.BY
(BRUSSELS) - The EU introduced new sanctions on Russia and Belarus Wednesday, including measures targeting the Belarusian financial sector, and more oligarchs and members of the Russian Federation Council.
"With these additional sectoral sanctions, we are sending a strong message: the unprovoked and unjustified military aggression waged against Ukraine by the Putin regime with assistance by Lukashenko comes at a high price," said the EU's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell: "We are closing the loopholes of our existing sanctions and imposing further measures on Belarus' financial sector."
The agreed measures will:
- restrict the provision of specialised financial messaging services (SWIFT) to Belagroprombank, Bank Dabrabyt, and the Development Bank of the Republic of Belarus, as well as their Belarusian subsidiaries;
- prohibit transactions with the Central Bank of Belarus related to the management of reserves or assets, and the provision of public financing for trade with and investment in Belarus;
- prohibit the listing and provision of services in relation to shares of Belarus state-owned entities on EU trading venues as of 12 April 2022;
- significantly limit the financial inflows from Belarus to the EU, by prohibiting the acceptance of deposits exceeding €100.000 from Belarusian nationals or residents, the holding of accounts of Belarusian clients by the EU central securities depositories, as well as the selling of euro-denominated securities to Belarusian clients;
- prohibit the provision of euro denominated banknotes to Belarus.
The Council is also introducing further restrictive measures with regard to the export of maritime navigation goods and radio communication technology to Russia. By virtue of this decision it will be prohibited to sell, supply, transfer or export, directly or indirectly, maritime navigation goods and technology to any natural or legal person, entity or body in Russia, for use in Russia, or for the placing on board of a Russian-flagged vessel.
The Council also expanded the list of legal persons, entities and bodies subject to the prohibitions related to investment services, transferable securities, money market instruments, and loans.
The Council clarified the notion of "transferable securities" so as to clearly include crypto-assets, and thus ensure the proper implementation of the sectoral restrictions in place.
Furthermore, the EU is targetting another 160 individuals in respect of actions undermining or threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine.
The listed individuals include:
- 14 oligarchs and prominent businesspeople involved in key economic sectors providing a substantial source of revenue to the Russian Federation - notably in the metallurgical, agriculture, pharmaceutical, telecom and digital industries -, as well as their family members.
- 146 members of the Russian Federation Council, who ratified the government decisions of the 'Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance between the Russian Federation and the Donetsk People's Republic' and the 'Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance between the Russian Federation and the Luhansk People's Republic'.
Altogether, EU restrictive measures now apply to a total of 862 individuals and 53 entities.
EU restrictive measures in response to the crisis in Ukraine (background information)