Banks, airplanes, refineries – this is how Europe repays Putin’s war of aggression


Dhe European Union leaders agreed on Thursday evening on a package of sanctions that would impose “massive and harsh consequences” on Russia for its attack on Ukraine. These sanctions affect the financial sector, energy and transport, as well as export restrictions, export financing and visa policy. After the political decision, the measures, which have been closely coordinated with America and other partners, are to be put into effect on Friday at a special meeting of foreign ministers.

Thomas Gutschker

Political correspondent for the European Union, NATO and the Benelux countries based in Brussels.

The financial sanctions are intended to cut off seventy percent of the Russian banking sector and state-owned companies, especially the defense industry, from European capital. “These sanctions will increase Russian borrowing costs, increase inflation and gradually erode Russia’s industrial base,” said Commission President Ursula von der Leyen early on Friday morning when the special council ended after six hours.

Export ban on aircraft and aircraft parts

In the energy sector, equipment for refineries can no longer be supplied to Russia – this technology comes almost exclusively from Europe. This is intended to make it impossible for the country to repair and modernize facilities, thereby reducing yields. Von der Leyen put Russia’s revenues from refined products at 24 billion euros in 2019. In the transport sector, the country no longer gets airplanes and airplane parts; it can no longer have its machines serviced or repaired in Europe. Three-quarters of the aircraft fleet are from Europe, the US and Canada, with whom this lockdown is coordinated. This will severely affect a key sector of the economy and connectivity, von der Leyen said.

While these measures should take effect relatively quickly, the export restrictions for high-tech goods will have an effect in the medium term. “We will meet Russian access to critical technologies needed to build a prosperous future,” said the commission president. US President Joe Biden said in Washington that this would roughly halve Russian high-tech imports.

The visa restrictions apply to diplomatic passport holders and business people; they are excluded from facilitated visa access. In addition, a new sanctions framework for oligarchs associated with President Putin is to be created. Von der Leyen said this marked the beginning of a new era. Putin is trying to subdue a friendly country by force. “It must and it will fail.” French President Emmanuel Macron said after the deliberations: “Europe has no choice but to become a power.”

Several states, especially from Central and Eastern Europe, had urged the special council to also exclude Russia from the payment service provider SWIFT. Then Russians would no longer be able to conduct financial transactions with foreign countries. On the other hand, Germany and Italy in particular, which would face the highest losses, blocked themselves. Nor was the proposal part of the previously negotiated package. It is “very important that we decide on the measures that have been prepared in recent weeks and reserve everything else for a situation where it is necessary to do other things as well,” said Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD). , when he arrived in Brussels. However, he did not want to explain when this threshold would be reached. Scholz left the meeting without a word.

EU assures Selenskyj support

During the council, the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was connected from Kiev for twenty minutes. The heads of government assured him of further support, financially and with the care of internally displaced persons. Meanwhile, the ring of Russian troops around the capital was tightening. “The European Council firmly believes that the use of force and coercion to enforce border changes in the 21st century is completely unfounded,” the heads of government said in their conclusions.

Macron expressed his disappointment that President Putin misled him about his real intentions when they discussed a revival of the Minsk accords. “Putin made a conscious decision to go to war,” Macron said. He said that on the evening of the Council he had a brief phone call with the Russian President at the request of Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy. He had asked Putin to stop fighting immediately and to seek talks with Zelenskyj. “It hasn’t had any effect so far,” Macron said.

The heads of state and government of Poland, Lithuania and Slovenia called for giving Ukraine a clear perspective of joining the European Union. Slovenia’s Prime Minister Janes Jansa said the country should be given candidate status immediately and join the Union “by 2030 at the latest”. However, the Council’s conclusions only said that “the European aspirations of Ukraine and its decision for Europe, as expressed in the association agreement, are recognized”.



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