BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Union (EU) has again put pressure on Moscow by adopting a tenth package of sanctions against Russia on Saturday, the day after the first anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. .
“We now have the heaviest sanctions ever – depleting Russia’s arsenal of war and biting deep into its economy,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen wrote on Twitter, adding that the Twenty-Seven target in particular those who try to circumvent EU sanctions.
The head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, warned that future additional measures could be taken, if necessary.
“We will continue to increase the pressure on Russia – and we will do so for as long as necessary, until Ukraine is freed from brutal Russian aggression,” he wrote in a statement.
According to Josep Borrell, the latest sanctions target the banking sector, Moscow’s access to technologies that can be used for civilian and military purposes and advanced technologies.
The package adds to the list of prohibited exports electronic components used in Russian weapons systems recovered from battlefields – including drones, missiles and helicopters – as well as specific materials, electronic integrated circuits and thermal cameras.
It also imposes tougher export restrictions on 96 entities supporting Russia’s military and industrial complex, including seven Iranian companies that manufacture military drones used by Moscow.
RESTRICTIONS ON IMPORTS
Additional restrictions are imposed on imports of goods that are important sources of revenue for Russia, such as asphalt and synthetic rubber.
At the same time, the EU imposed sanctions against 11 individuals and seven entities linked to the Russian group Wagner, a private military company whose mercenaries fight in Ukraine and are also involved in conflicts in Africa, in Mali in particular.
The activities of the Wagner group, without a legal framework, endanger international peace and security and are a threat to the peoples of the countries where it operates and to the EU, said Josep Borrell in a statement from the European Council.
Among the blacklisted individuals are two commanders of the group actively involved in the seizure of the Ukrainian town of Soledar last month and the head of Wagner in Mali, the document said.
Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky and Prime Minister Denys Chmyhal on Saturday urged the EU to be even tougher on Moscow.
“The pressure on the Russian aggressor must increase. We expect decisive action against [l’entreprise publique russe d’énergie nucléaire] Rosatom and the Russian nuclear industry, more pressure on the army and the bank,” Volodimir Zelensky wrote on Twitter.
EU member states agreed on sanctions on Friday evening after heated debates, notably disturbed by the reluctance of Poland, which considered the package of measures too weak.
(Report Sabine Siebold with the contribution of Dan Peleschuk in Kyiv; French version Elizabeth Pineau, edited by Jean-Stéphane Brosse)
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