Brussels has said it is ready to launch a new package of sanctions against Russia, which will include a ban on coal imports from the country, blocking deals with four of its creditors and closing its ports to Russian ships.
Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, said she would also propose banning Russian and Belarusian road hauliers from the EU. “This ban will drastically limit the ability of Russian industry to receive key goods,” she said.
The new penalties will be discussed by EU ambassadors this week with a view to reaching a unanimous agreement between the 27 member states.
Pressure for new sanctions has intensified after allegations that Russian forces committed atrocities against civilians around Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital. Russia dismissed the allegations as fabrications.
Von der Leyen said the sanctions would include a “total ban on transactions” for four Russian banks, including VTB, adding that they would now be “completely cut off from the markets”.
Other measures in the sanctions package – the fifth for the EU since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24th – include targeted export bans worth 10 billion euros in areas including quantum computers and modern semiconductors. There will also be concrete new bans worth 5.5 billion euros on products, including wood, cement, seafood and alcohol.
The package follows growing calls for the EU to focus directly on Russia’s energy sector, given its contribution to the country’s economy and public revenues.
Among the ideas also being discussed are restrictions on oil imports, although they are not expected to be included in the sanctions package this week.
Most of Russia’s exports to the EU are hydrocarbons, Valdis Dombrovskis, executive deputy chairman of the commission, said after a meeting of EU finance ministers in Luxembourg on Tuesday.
“If we really want to affect the Russian economy, this is where we need to look, and this is exactly what is being discussed about this fifth package,” he said.
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Bruno Le Mer, France’s finance minister, who holds the rotating EU presidency, confirmed that Member States are ready to include the wider energy sector in sanctions by an unspecified date.
“Faced with Russian aggression, we need to be more united than ever – and all Member States have reaffirmed their readiness to expand import restrictions and step up efforts against Russia, and we have discussed expanding the list of people under sanctions and companies,” he said. he.
Work on a possible oil ban includes considering a phasing out of imports, combined with the release of strategic oil reserves.
Other options could include imposing tariffs on Russian oil or directing some payments to an escrow account to be used to pay for the Ukrainian reconstruction.
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