EU member states impose sanctions against Russia for the fourth time over the war in Ukraine. Current EU president France announced this on Twitter on Monday. The sanctions package affects Russian oligarchs, companies and sectors that the EU believes are involved in “the aggression in Ukraine”.
Details of the sanctions have not been released, but the French presidency says Russia’s trade status as a ‘most favored nation’ will be revoked. This will lead to higher taxes on Russian products. The measures are expected to take effect soon, but exactly when is not known.
According to Bloomberg news agency, which has seen a preliminary version of the new sanctions, the EU wants to ban the sale to Russia of luxury goods worth more than 300 euros. At the same time, the purchase of steel and iron products from Russia would be restricted.
According to Bloomberg, it is also forbidden to sell luxury cars, boats and planes (from a value of 50,000 euros) and motorcycles (from 5,000 euros) to Russia. Many automakers had already voluntarily suspended sales to Russia since the attack on Ukraine.
Last week, the 27 heads of government failed to reach a decision on additional sanctions against Russia after a two-day EU summit in Versailles. French President Emmanuel Macron said at the time that the EU was ready for a “fourth round of coercive sanctions” and that they would be “bad”. Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, has also already said that the EU is working on suspending Russia’s membership rights to, among others, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
Germany’s announced investments in defense, in response to the Russian invasion, are also becoming concrete. Germany announced on Monday that it wants to replace its aging fighter jets, the Tornadoes, by 2030. To this end, Germany orders F-35 fighter aircraft from American Lockheed and fifteen Eurofighters. The F-35s cost more than 100 million dollars (91 million euros) each – it is not known how many will be ordered. Germany had previously promised to increase its defense spending by €100 billion to respond to the threat from Russia.
A version of this article also appeared in NRC on the morning of March 15, 2022