The EU Commission is proposing: sharpening, closing loopholes and new import bans – for example for coal, wood, cement or vodka. There probably won’t be a gas embargo for the time being.
According to French information, the European Union will likely decide on new sanctions against Russia on Wednesday. The reason for this was reports of civilian deaths, Europe Minister Clement Beaune told RFI radio. “The new sanctions will likely be passed tomorrow,” he told RFI radio on Tuesday. According to one source, the EU Commission is proposing, among other things, an embargo on coal imports.
According to diplomats, the Commission intends to present the sanctions package to EU countries on Tuesday. They then have to vote for him. The sanctions package will also likely extend previous measures and close loopholes so sanctions cannot be circumvented.
A Russian gas embargo is rejected by countries like Austria and Germany. According to Federal Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP), Russian oil has not been used by the Austrian oil and gas company OMV since Russia invaded Ukraine in late February.
wood, cement, rubber, chemicals
According to the source, the import of wood, cement, rubber, chemicals and luxury foods like caviar and spirits like vodka will be banned. This includes a total volume of five billion euros per year. Russian trucks and ships should also no longer be allowed in the EU. The export of semiconductors, high-tech machinery, certain liquefied gas technologies and other equipment should also be prohibited accordingly. The export ban has a volume of ten billion euros.
In addition, the commission wants to ban all transactions with VTB Bank and three other banks that have already been excluded from the Swift international payment system, the source said. In addition, several other Russians would be on the sanctions list. These included other oligarchs, military officials, and politicians. The new sanctions planned against Russia would affect the local economy, several leading economists told Reuters news agency.
Sanctions should not be boomerang
The Austrian government said that, as in the past, there was an agreement within the EU not to publicly discuss new sanctions in advance. “It is well known that Austria will not get in the way of a fifth sanctions package, but will fully support it,” a spokeswoman said.
Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg stressed in Berlin that stopping Russian gas imports is not up for debate. “It won’t work,” he said. “Many European countries, not just Austria, cannot replace Russian gas imports overnight.” The possibilities of tightening the sanctions screw even further are “much greater” even without energy measures. “Sanctions shouldn’t fall on us like a boomerang. But we still have a lot of arrows in our quiver,” Schallenberg said.
German Economy Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) supports a possible ban on imports of Russian coal, as the German press agency learned on Tuesday in circles at the Ministry of Economy and Climate Protection. “We are open to stricter sanctions,” German Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) said on Tuesday after discussions with EU finance ministers in Luxembourg. “It was a mistake for Germany to become so dependent on Russian energy imports.” According to Lindner, coal and oil can be replaced more quickly than gas or raw materials such as palladium.
Hundreds of Russians are already on the sanctions list
In four previous sanctions packages, the EU had already put hundreds of people on sanctions lists, including Russian President Vladimir Putin himself, meaning they can no longer enter the EU and potential EU assets are frozen. The Russian financial sector and the central bank have already been sanctioned.
Reports of the dead found in Bucha after the withdrawal of Russian troops from the region around Kiev caused horror across the world. Russia has denied all allegations related to the killing of civilians, for example, in the Kiev suburb of Bucha. Russia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Vasily Nebensia, said Russia would present “empirical evidence” to the UN Security Council on Tuesday showing that its armed forces were not involved in the atrocities.
(APA/Reuters/dpa)