The Union has transferred 35 billion euros to Russia for energy since the beginning of the war. The new sanctions do little to change this flow of money.
After six weeks of Russia’s war of annihilation against Ukraine, the European Union still lacks the political courage to impose an embargo on the Kremlin’s main source of income, namely natural gas. And crude oil will only come into the Union’s sights in the next step. But it is now beginning to sanction at least some of Russia’s energy exports. The import of Russian coal is to be banned under the European Commission’s proposal for the fifth package of sanctions, which has been delayed for weeks, and Russian cargo ships and trucks are also to be banned from entering the Union. In addition, several members of the Kremlin’s political system and President Vladimir Putin’s personal entourage are on the list of several hundred names of people who are not allowed to enter the EU and whose assets here are being confiscated.
First and foremost, as the draft sanctions available to the “press” envisages, Putin’s two daughters, Maria Putina and Ekaterina Tikhonova, will be hit. The two were born in 1985 and 1986, lead a secluded life and come from Putin’s 2013 marriage to a former Aeroflot stewardess. They both work in state-affiliated investment firms sponsored by corporations that in turn help finance Putin’s war.