A tightening of sanctions against Moscow on the menu of Hadja Lahbib’s first EU Council

Kharkiv, the country’s second largest city in the northeast, was the target of missile strikes overnight from Saturday to Sunday, according to regional governor Oleg Synegubov. Vitaliy Kim, head of the Mykolaiv region (south), near the Black Sea, denounced for his part several strikes carried out the day before in the south of this region and on the city itself in the morning. The Donetsk region (east) has also been targeted by “the Russians (who) continue to bomb civilian infrastructure, especially educational institutions,” said regional governor Pavlo Kyrylen.

It is in this context that EU ministers will have to consider on Monday, among other things, a European Commission proposal to ban gold purchases from Russia, to align EU sanctions with those of its G7 partners. Another proposal aims to put new Russian personalities on the EU blacklist.

“Moscow must continue to pay a high price for its aggression,” said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen after transmitting the new measures to the Twenty-Seven. However, according to a senior European official, no decision is expected during this first discussion in Brussels on these new sanctions.

The Foreign Affairs Council, chaired by the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, will hear again by videoconference from Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba. Other topics will be discussed: relations between the EU and Latin America and the Caribbean, digital diplomacy, information manipulation and interference activities carried out from abroad, the situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo, (DRC) a possible EU-Israel Association Council, the next ministerial meeting between the EU and the League of Arab States, as well as the situation in Sri Lanka and Tunisia.

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