The new package of European sanctions against Russia will affect Russian oligarchs and politicians and will be aimed at disconnecting three Belarusian banks from the SWIFT interbank system. The draft sanctions were adopted on Tuesday morning, the EU ambassadors will discuss it at a meeting on March 8, sources told Reuters.
“The project will ban three Belarusian banks from participating in the SWIFT banking system and add several more oligarchs and Russian deputies to the EU blacklist,” the agency reports. About which banks in question, the sources did not specify.
In addition, new sanctions will prohibit the export of naval equipment and software from the EU to Russia.
The new package also talks about recommendations for monitoring cryptocurrencies. The measure is necessary so that cryptocurrencies cannot be used to circumvent sanctions. According to Reuters, the EU diplomats “so far approved without any changes” the sanctions proposed by the European Commission against Russia and Belarus.
EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Josep Borrell then said that the possibility of disconnecting even more Russian banks from SWIFT was being considered.
Western countries began to impose sanctions against Russia in connection with the recognition of the independence of the DPR and LPR, as well as after the start of a special operation in Ukraine.
The US, EU, UK, Canada, Japan, Switzerland, Singapore, New Zealand, Taiwan, South Korea and Montenegro have imposed various kinds of restrictions against Russia. The sanctions affected the economic, financial and trade sectors to varying degrees, including banks and technology exports. Also, the US, EU, Switzerland and others have imposed a ban on transactions with Russian government agencies and the Central Bank.