The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, proposed on Wednesday the addition of about 200 people and entities to the list of EU sanctions against Moscow, this new package of sanctions, the ninth, also targeting the Russian armed forces and three more Russian banks, transmits AFP.
Ursula von der Leyen, in KyivPhoto: Efrem Lukatsky / AP / Profimedia
“The eight packages of sanctions adopted so far are already hurting (Russia). But today we increase the pressure” on Moscow in response to the war in Ukraine, said Ursula von der Leyen.
However, this new package of measures proposed by the European Commission must be debated and unanimously approved by the 27 EU member states.
The head of the European Commission proposed to add to the list of persons and entities sanctioned by the EU “the Russian armed forces, as well as officers, but also enterprises from the Russian defense industry”.
“Members of the State Duma and the Council of the Russian Federation, ministers, governors and political parties” were also put on the list. These are, according to Ursula von der Leyen, people who played a key role in the “Russian missile strikes”, in the “kidnapping of Ukrainian children to Russia” or in the “theft of Ukrainian agricultural products”.
Brussels also proposes sanctioning three new Russian banks, imposing in particular a total ban on the transactions of the Russian Regional Development Bank, “to further paralyze the financial machine” of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
According to Ursula von der Leyen, the proposed sanctions against the army and the military industry aim to strengthen restrictions on the purchase of dual-use products, civil and military, as well as electronic and IT components, chemical substances and neurotoxic agents.
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