Von der Leyen noted that Russian dictator Vladimir Putin not only wages a brutal war on the battlefield, but also viciously attacks civilians, so he should pay for it.
“First, we are proposing further export bans worth more than 11 billion euros to deprive the Russian economy of critical technologies and manufactured goods,” she said.
Thus, the EU is targeting many manufactured goods that Russia needs but cannot get from other countries such as China. These include electronics, specialized vehicles, machine and engine parts, truck and jet engine parts, as well as products for the construction sector that the Russian military can use, such as antennas or cranes.
“Secondly, we will continue to restrict the export of dual-use goods and advanced technologies. We offer export controls on 47 components that can be used in Russian weapons systems, including drones, missiles, helicopters,” said the President of the European Commission.
In addition, for the first time in history, the EU decided to add structures of third countries that are used by Russia to circumvent sanctions.
Thus, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards provides Russia with Shahed drones to attack civilian infrastructure in Ukraine. Therefore, the EU adds seven Iranian organizations to the list. The bloc is ready to continue imposing sanctions against countries that supply Russia with important technologies.
In addition, the EU imposes sanctions against the Russian propaganda machine. The EU proposes to include Putin’s propagandists on the sanctions list along with the political and military leaders of Russia. We are talking about more than 100 new names in the list.
The European Union is also introducing new measures to prevent circumvention of sanctions.
“We will track oligarchs who are trying to hide or sell their assets to avoid sanctions. And together with member states, we will create an overview of all the Russian central bank’s frozen assets held in the EU. We need to know where they are located and how much they are worth. This very important, given the possible use of Russian state assets to finance the reconstruction of Ukraine,” von der Leyen said.
She urged Member States to quickly adopt this new package of sanctions. The goal, she said, is to work with G7 partners to impose further significant sanctions by February 24, exactly one year after Putin launched his imperial war.
As previously reported, the United States is preparing a new $10 billion financial aid package for Ukraine, as well as new sanctions against Russia.
Read urgent and important messages about Russia’s war against Ukraine on the channel RBC-Ukraine on Telegram.
