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The European Union must adopt, by next February 24th, the tenth package of sanctions against Russia. The announcement was made this Wednesday, February 15, by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, before the Parliament of Strasbourg, in plenary session.
The President of the European Commission announced today that a new package of sanctions, the tenth, is being prepared against Russia, which should be applied by the 24th of February.
Ursula von der Leyen wants to make the sanctions coincide with the first anniversary of the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The tenth package of sanctions, valued at 10 billion euros, will focus on electronic components used in Russian systems such as drones, missiles and helicopters.
With these sanctions, the President of the European Commission also intends to target Iran, which has been accused of supplying drones to the Russian army.
“Iranian drones are killing Ukrainian civilians, it is atrocious. So, for the first time, we are also proposing sanctions against Iranians, including those linked to the Revolutionary Guard. It is our duty”this is Ursula von der Leyen.
For almost a year, Russia’s war of aggression has been sowing death and destruction.
We are making Russia pay.
Today, we are turning up the pressure with a 10th package of sanctions.
https://t.co/ufC6zOqKyJ— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) February 15, 2023
The head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrel, referred that, in addition to sanctions, European countries announced more military support for Ukraine.
The president of the European Commission also praised the efforts of Ukraine, a candidate for membership of the European Union.
“Putin wanted to kill Ukraine’s European dream, today Ukraine is moving towards the European Union faster and more resolutely than ever,” underlined.
NATO wants to boost defense spending
This Wednesday, the NATO countries relaunched, in Brussels, discussions on increasing defense spending above 2% of Gross Domestic Product. For several months, Jens Stoltenberg has been defending that significant investments are needed to modernize the Alliance’s military capabilities, considering that the commitment made in 2014 by the allies to approach 2% of their GDP destined for their defense expenses must be reviewed .
“We must stop seeing 2% as the ceiling, committing ourselves more firmly to a long-term perspective.”, these.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine once again put this delicate issue at the center of the debate and will be one of the central themes of the Atlantic Alliance summit scheduled for July in Vilnius.