The European Union is punishing government officials, military commanders and Kremlin mouthpieces for their role in recognizing and occupying renegade Ukrainian regions. Members of the Russian House of Representatives will also be sanctioned. Russia can no longer borrow from the EU and a number of banks are also being punished.
Read all the news about the conflict between Ukraine and Russia in this dossier.
The EU already announced punitive measures on Tuesday against “those involved in the illegal and aggressive” Russian crackdown on Ukraine. Russia has recognized the self-proclaimed people’s republics of Donetsk and Luhansk as independent and is deploying troops there. European sanctions appear to be slightly more extensive than those imposed by allies such as the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada.
EU countries freeze any assets of 27 prominent Russians in Europe and deny them access to the union. This applies to, among others, Defense Minister Sergei Shoygu, reports Politico† Citizens and companies in the EU are also no longer allowed to do business with him. The final sanctions list will be published later Wednesday.
The same fate befell President Putin’s chief of staff, the deputy prime minister, the commander of the Air Force and the Black Sea Fleet, and the boss of a bank important to Russia’s defense industry. The spokeswoman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the editor-in-chief of TV channel RT and a presenter of state television are also being punished.
A notorious St. Petersburg ‘troll factory’ is also likely to be on the sanctions list. This Internet Research Agency is continuously producing Kremlin-like social media disinformation. IRA financier Prigozhin, a Putin confidant and founder of the Wagner mercenary bureau, has been punished before.
Penalties have also been imposed on three banks with close ties to the Russian defense sector, the British newspaper The Guardian reported. It would be VEB, Rossija bank and Promsvjaz bank.
Also economic and financial sanctions
There will also be a ban on the import of goods from rebel areas in eastern Ukraine. Trade and investment in certain economic sectors is restricted. There will be a ban on tourist services. Certain goods and technologies may not be exported.
The financial sector in the EU is no longer allowed to finance Russia and its central bank. The Russian state and government is thus cut off from the EU’s financial and capital markets.
The sanctions are taken relatively quickly. The EU countries were able to fall back on the blueprint that has been in place since the Russian annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula Crimea.
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What affects Putin in Donetsk and Luhansk? Dangerous mines, gray cities and more Russians than Ukrainians (+)
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