2023-06-21 18:14:45
A month and a half after the European Comission presented his proposal and less than ten days before a new summit of EU heads of state and government, the 27 EU ambassadors have managed to close an agreement on the eleventh package of sanctions against Russia whose main novelty is to prevent companies and third countries from circumventing the restrictions and helping the Kremlin in its war against Ukraine by exporting technology and dual-use goods.
“He will deal a new blow to Putin’s war machine with tighter export restrictions, targeting entities that support the Kremlin. Our anti-circumvention tool will prevent Russia from receiving sanctioned goods”, celebrated the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. “The key elements: additional transit and export bans (of products), more advanced technology and electronic products, circumvention ban for third countries and companies, sanctions against ghost fleets, (ban on) ship-to-ship transfers (of oil) ), around 100 individuals on the list (of restrictive measures”, summarized the Lithuanian ambassador to the EU, Arnoldas Pranckevicius.
It is not the first time that the European Union has targeted third countries that provide cover for the Kremlin. In previous sanctions packages the Twenty-seven have already punished Iran for providing drones to Moscow. Now it is a matter of going a step further in the face of fears that Vladimir Putin is using Central Asian countries as Armenia, Kazakhstan or Uzbekistan -even Türkiye, United Arab Emirates or China– to import the technology and products you need to continue your aggression. The new package of restrictive measures introduces a legal mechanism that will allow European governments to restrict, as a last resort and when a whole series of previous measures such as dialogue fail, the sale of sensitive products to third countries if they verify a sudden and inexplicable increase in trade flows from these countries to Russia.
a hundred names
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The new round also expands the list of personalities and companies subject to restrictive measures. In total, more than 30 entities and 70 individuals will be added that will not be allowed to enter community territory and their assets will be frozen. They include people linked to the deportation of Ukrainian minors to Russia. The package, awaiting confirmation that will take place after the publication of the decision in the Official Journal of the EU, would also include a ban on oil imports through the Druzhba pipeline.
The political agreement between the ambassadors, after weeks of arduous negotiations, came just hours after Ukraine temporarily removed five Greek shipping companies from Kiev’s “list of war sponsors.” Both Greece and Hungary, whose OTP Bank does remain on the list, have been protesting this designation for weeks. Another contentious element that has forced the negotiations to prolong has been the inclusion of Chinese companies in the list of firms to restrict the exports of sensitive technologies for intentionally dodging sanctions. The initial draft included a total of seven names that would eventually have been narrowed down to three based in Hong Kong.
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