Should change Putin’s calculus
West threatens Moscow with further sanctions
02/28/2022, 10:03 p.m
As the Russian offensive in Ukraine continues, sanctions imposed by Europeans and their allies against Russian oligarchs come into effect. However, the West already agrees that further punitive measures should follow.
The Europeans and their allies are ready for further sanctions against Russia over the invasion of Ukraine. This was announced by the Elysée Palace in Paris after a video conference of the heads of state and government of France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Poland, Romania, the USA, Canada and Japan as well as representatives of the EU and NATO. “Further sanctions” could be imposed “in the coming days,” said the French presidency.
“There will be further sanctions. That has priority,” it said from the Elysée Palace. There is an “urgency to increase the costs of the war” for Russian President Vladimir Putin and to “change his calculations”. But the sanctions that have already been imposed are “more painful than President Putin expected.”
Because of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, the EU has already imposed a series of draconian sanctions on Moscow. The EU had previously announced that its sanctions against Russian oligarchs and other people associated with President Vladimir Putin had come into force. On the Sanctions list published in the EU Official Journal, is also Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. The 25 other Russians affected by the sanctions also include the head of the Russian energy company Rosneft, Igor Sechin, the entrepreneur Alisher Usmanov and the bankers Peter Awen and Mikhail Fridman. Their assets in the EU are frozen and entry bans have been imposed on them.
Last week, the EU imposed a first package of sanctions in response to Putin’s recognition of the pro-Russian separatist areas in eastern Ukraine. After the Russian invasion of Ukraine on Thursday, further sanctions were added, which were also directed against Putin and his foreign minister Lavrov. In addition, EU leaders agreed to limit Russia’s access to financial markets and key technologies. Over the weekend, Ukraine’s allies on Saturday agreed to ban a number of Russian banks from the Swift financial system. An EU-wide ban on overflights for Russian aircraft came into effect on Monday.