The new sanctions package adopted by the European Union on Saturday targets 121 individuals and entities, including seven Iranian drone manufacturers
New sanctions taken by the European Union (EU) in the context of the war in Ukraine were approved on Friday evening by the Twenty-Seven and formally adopted on Saturday, said the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell. These target 121 individuals and entities, including 96 additional Russian entities (companies or state agencies), as well as three Russian banks and seven Iranian entities – all manufacturers of explosive drones used by Moscow to strike Ukrainian infrastructure or apartment buildings. –, the EU said in a statement.
With this tenth wave of European sanctions taken for a year, the ban on exporting industrial goods from the EU to Russia is also extended to dual-use goods such as electronics, specialized vehicles, mechanical parts , spare parts for truck and aircraft engines, antennas, cranes, drones, rare earths, electronic circuits and thermal cameras. The trade in these goods is worth more than 11 billion euros, according to European officials.
Sanctions against Russian propaganda are also being tightened, including measures to suspend the licenses of Arab bureaus of Russia Today (RT) and Sputnik, state-controlled media outlets already banned in Europe. The new sanctions package also obliges EU member states to better detail the assets seized from wealthy Russians supporting the Kremlin and subject to sanctions, as well as the frozen assets of the Russian central bank.
Borrell says the latest round of sanctions also targets “those responsible for the deportation and forced adoption of at least 6,000 Ukrainian children”in violation of international law. “We will continue to increase the pressure on Russia and will do so for as long as necessary, until Ukraine is freed from brutal Russian aggression”, he added. This tenth set of sanctions adopted by the EU since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine echoes the measures announced on Friday by the United States and Great Britain, preceded by a severe warning from the G7 to countries assisting Russia in this war.
The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, for her part, welcomed in a tweet that all the measures successively decided by the EU constitute ” punishments heaviest of all time, depleting Russia’s arsenal of war and biting deep into its economy”. “We are also increasing the pressure on those who try to circumvent our sanctions”she said.