Three Belarusian banks will also be disconnected from the international financial platform Swift.
The Twenty-Seven decided on Wednesday to broaden their sanctions against Moscow and Minsk following the invasion of Ukraine, in particular by disconnecting three Belarusian banks from the international financial platform Swift, announced the French presidency of the Council of the EU.
Meeting in Brussels, member state representatives also added Russian leaders and oligarchs to their blacklist and adopted new sanctions targeting “the maritime sector“, added the same source on Twitter.
The Europeans have expanded the list of technologies and goods that cannot be exported to Russia, and “clarified» the restrictions imposed on cryptocurrencies.
The G7 countries and the EU announced last week that they were seeking to prevent Russia from finding loopholes from Western sanctions by using cryptocurrencies.
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A diversified sanctions regime
Since the United States and its Western allies implemented a series of sanctions aimed at crippling the banking sector and the Russian currency after the invasion of Ukraine, ruble cryptocurrency purchases have soared to an all-time high.
The measures decided on Wednesday by the Twenty-Seven, which will come into force after formal agreement by the States and publication in the Official Journal of the EU, are intended to “complete» the three sets of sanctions adopted by the EU over the past two weeks, underlined the French Presidency of the Council of the EU.
Some, such as those excluding Belarusian banks from Swift, a secure messaging platform allowing operations such as the transit of payment orders and funds transfer orders between banks, aim in particular to prevent Russia from circumventing the same measure which affects several of its banks. .
Read alsoExclusion of Russia from the Swift banking network: “What consequences for Europe?”
Since the annexation of Crimea in 2014, the EU has already sanctioned 680 people and 53 entities, banned from entering its territory and whose assets in Europe are frozen.
Since the end of February, the Twenty-Seven have also paralyzed the assets of the Russian Central Bank located outside Russia, blocked the access of Russian financial establishments to European capital markets, and disconnected seven Russian banks from the Swift international financial system.
Europe has also closed its airspace to Russian companies and banned the export to Russia of parts and technologies for the aeronautical sector.
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