Agreement in Brussels: EU imposes new sanctions on Russia

The EU ambassador reached an agreement on Thursday morning in Brussels after a tough struggle 21. Sanctions Package achieved against Russia. It’s the biggest in four years. The written procedure for adoption will begin on Thursday afternoon. After the new sanctions were proposed last month, several member states objected, including Austria over Raiffeisenbank International (RBI). The oil price cap will be extended by one year.

According to council circles, despite its demand for legal regulation with regard to RBI’s business in Russia, Austria did not veto it because concessions had been made. “Austria has been calling for a solution to the problem of double enrichment for a long time. The Council has now instructed the Commission to submit a proposal so that an appropriate solution can be decided on as soon as possible,” the Federal Chancellery told the WHAT. No specific details about the proposal were given.

The RBI wanted the solution decided today WHAT-Do not comment directly on the request. In general, the new RBI boss is pursuing Michael Höllerer but two goals with regard to Russia: “support for Ukraine and the exit from Russia. A solution to the Rasperia case within the framework of the sanctions regulations would help to achieve these goals.” The background to the Austrian demand was the RBI’s demand that shares of the Austrian construction group Strabag worth around two billion euros, which are currently owned by the Russian company Rasperia, are to be released in order to transfer them to the RBI. According to council circles, Austria argued that it was a double enrichment of the Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska want to prevent.

Greece gave up the blockade

Most recently, according to council circles, things got spit up Greece, which rejected restrictions on its shipping and the planned ban on the transit of Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG). According to Council circles, a compromise has been reached here: a limited exception applies to the delivery of LNG to third countries (as well as related purchases) under contracts concluded before February 24, 2022. An expansion of these deliveries by EU operators should be restricted. The council wants to review the exemption annually.

President of the EU Commission Ursula von der Leyen and Council President Antonio Costa welcomed the agreement on For the first time, ships supporting Russia’s shadow fleet would be targeted. She thanked the Irish Presidency for brokering this agreement. “Our support for Ukraine and for a just and sustainable peace remains unwavering,” Costa said.

Kallas: Biggest sanctions package in four years

This is the largest sanctions package in four years with a total of 218 entries, explained the EU’s chief diplomat Kaja Kalla on The Estonian is one of the Russian president’s harshest critics Wladimir Putin. The new package includes “far-reaching measures targeting Moscow’s financial system, its military-industrial complex and the energy sector – the very areas that keep Russia’s war economy running.”

“We have targeted more than a hundred banks and crypto providers, over 40 Shadow Fleet ships, and multiple oil refineries in Russia and Belarus that are helping keep Moscow’s war going,” Kallas said. “In response to Russia’s relentless attacks on civilians, infrastructure and cultural heritage.” more than 50 companies of the military-industrial complex was placed on the sanctions list. Kallas announced that this was “not the end of the sanctions”: “We are already working on the next steps. The EU must be ready to respond to any further escalation by Russia.”

Oil price cap will be extended by one year

Also that one Oil price cap will be extended by one year: The price cap was frozen at the current level last week until July 23 to prevent an increase. The EU had set up a dynamic oil price cap to keep the maximum price for Russian oil below the world market price, even in the event of price fluctuations. In view of the rising oil prices as a result of the Iran war, the EU wants to suspend this adjustment in order to increase the price cap from currently around 44 dollars (around 38 euros) per barrel to avoid Russian crude oil.

According to the council, the package contains the highest number of individual entries of any package in the last four years. Further ships in the “shadow fleet” and those who enable their activities should be sanctioned. The package provides for the necessary measures Limitation of the Visa issuance for Russian former fighters to move forward. It also contains new trade restrictions that further restrict the Russian defense industry. Additional metals and alloys would be subject to import bans. Drones are also affected.

Sanctions against banks and crypto platforms

It encompasses far-reaching Restrictions and Transaction Prohibitionsthat are on the Russian financial sector as well as new measures against cryptocurrencies. The new package will see over 30 more Russian banks banned from transactions and cut off from the SWIFT payment service system. Banks and crypto platforms that worked with sanctioned Russian companies and individuals or circumvented EU measures are also on the list.

Agreement is not easy even without Orban

Other countries blocked the negotiations during the weeks: Bulgaria objected to the inclusion of the Russian Patriarch Kirill on the sanctions list, and loudly dpa also achieved. According to EU diplomats, Germany and Portugal opposed each other Import bans on Alaska pollock and cod from Russia, which has now also been removed from the list. This shows that despite the removal of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who blocked numerous EU decisions on Ukraine, an agreement between the 27 is not a foregone conclusion.

SPÖ-EU delegation leader Andreas Schieder welcomes the 21st sanctions package, but: “Once again it has taken far too long to find a common denominator. We simply cannot afford such a tug-of-war over particular interests. In this case, the Austrian struggle for RBI interests has done enormous damage to the process. Any intra-European disagreement that prevents unified European action plays into Putin’s hand. Austria must not tip the scales here. The many individual interests of the member states are our Achilles heel and Russia does not hesitate to cut them.”

“This war has now been going on for more than four years. Anyone who believes that the 21st sanctions package will bring about the turning point that was not achieved with the previous 20 packages is not only acting naively, but negligently. New sanctions replace neither a political strategy nor concrete negotiations to end the war,” explained Harald Vilimskyhead of the liberal delegation in the European Parliament, according to the broadcast. For years, the FPÖ has been calling for an end to the failed sanctions policy and a fundamental change of course towards serious diplomatic efforts.