(Reuters) – The European Union on Friday officially adopted its fifth round of sanctions against Russia, which includes an embargo on imports of coal, wood, chemicals and other products from Russia.
These new sanctions will also prevent many Russian ships and trucks from entering the EU and will prohibit any transactions with four Russian banks, including VTB.
The embargo on coal imports will be fully effective from the second week of August and no new contracts can be signed from Friday, when the sanctions will be published in the EU’s official journal.
Current contracts will have to be terminated before the second week of August, which means that Russia can continue to receive payments from the EU for its coal exports until then.
“These latest sanctions were adopted following the atrocities committed by the Russian armed forces in Boutcha and other places under Russian occupation,” said the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, in a press release.
According to the Kremlin, Western accusations that Russian forces committed war crimes by executing civilians in Bucha are a “monstrous falsification” aimed at denigrating the Russian military.
The Commission estimates that the ban on Russian coal alone represents a loss of revenue of 8 billion euros per year for Russia.
In addition to coal, the new EU sanctions prohibit imports of many other goods and products from Russia, including timber, cement, fertilizers, seafood and alcohol, with an estimated total value of 5 .5 billion euros per year.
The EU has also restricted the export to Russia of a number of products, including kerosene, quantum computers, advanced semiconductors, high-end electronics, software, sensitive machinery and equipment. transport, for a total value of 10 billion euros per year.
(Report Francesco Guarascio and Bart Meijer, French version Diana Mandiá, edited by Jean-Michel Bélot)