These measures are part of a fourth package of EU sanctions against Moscow which are to be announced in the afternoon.
The European Union has decided to sanction new Russian oligarchs, in particular the billionaire Roman Abramovich, owner of the English football club Chelsea, diplomats told AFP on Monday. These measures are part of a fourth package of EU sanctions against Moscow which are to be announced in the afternoon. Before this extension, 862 people and 53 Russian entities were already on this blacklist which prohibits entry into EU territory and allows the seizure of their property.
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Roman Abramovich, close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, has already been sanctioned by the United Kingdom, forcing him to suspend the sale of the Chelsea club (1st English division) which he had announced. It is also subject to sanctions in Canada. The British government estimated the wealth of this businessman at 10.7 billion euros. Apart from Chelsea, Roman Abramovich holds stakes in steel giant Evraz. He also holds shares in the Russian company Norilsk Nickel, which specializes in the mining and processing of nickel and palladium. This Russian oligarchmaintains close and long-standing ties with Vladimir Putinaccording to an EU preparatory document on the new sanctions.
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The Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire had announced earlier in the day to submit to the European Union “Several dozensadditional names of Vladimir Putin’s relatives. Names to add to the list of people sanctioned in response to the invasion of Ukraine.
“We are going to send several dozen names of Russian personalities to the European Commission so that they are placed under sanctions“, affirmed the minister on LCI, before a series of meetings of the ministers of the Economy of the EU and the euro zone. Their assets in Europe will notably be frozen, he said. These people are “oligarchs» and «Russian personalities close to Vladimir Putin“. They and their relatives have been identified by French financial intelligence services as being in France or having property in France, Bruno Le Maire said.
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New penalties to come
The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, announced on Friday “a fourth set of measures to further isolate Russia and deplete the resources used to finance this barbaric war“. These new sanctions must notably include the withdrawal of most favored nation status for Russia, paving the way for taxes on imports of Russian products. Ursula von der Leyen had also announced the ban on the export of luxury goods to Russia. “Those who support Putin’s war machine should no longer be able to enjoy their lavish lifestyle while bombs fall on innocent people in Ukraine“, she said.
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The fourth package of sanctions also plans to prohibit the import of “essential goods in the iron and steel sector“. The Twenty-Seven had already adopted financial and economic sanctions on an unprecedented scale which led to a collapse of the rouble. “These massive sanctions are effective. They will lead to a fall in Russian GDP of around 8%“Said French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire on Monday.
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