A statement by EU Council chief Herman Van Rompuy on Monday said the measures are due to “the aggression by Russian armed forces on Ukrainian soil” after several thousand Russian soldiers and hundreds of armoured vehicles joined rebel forces in east Ukraine last week.
Van Rompuy noted that implementation “will take place in the next few days”.
He added, however: “This will leave time for an assessment of the implementation of the [Ukraine] ceasefire agreement and the peace plan. Depending on the situation on the ground, the EU stands ready to review the agreed sanctions in whole or in part”.
The new EU sanctions are to further tighten Russian banks, energy, and defence firms’ access to EU capital markets. They are to target a subsidiary of Gazprom, Gazprom Neft, as well as oil companies Rosneft and Transneft, and nine defence firms.
The measures are also to extend a list of dual-use items and oil-drilling technologies under an export embargo and to add 24 names to an EU visa ban and asset freeze list.
Be the first to comment