The European Union has approved the 19th sanctions for Russia, including, among the other things, the ban on complete transactions with large energy companies.
“All transactions with large energy companies – Rosneft and Gazpromneft – will now be completely banned,” the head of the European Commission Ursula Von Derain said in a video message announced on the European Commission.
The new package also imported the Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) and the ceiling of crude oil from the Russian Federation at $ 47.6 per barrel.
Von der Layen said we want to cut this income (Russia). Therefore, we prohibit the import of Russian ledges into the European market.
45 companies from Russia and third countries will also affect sanctions, according to the EU, “provide direct or indirect support to the Russian military industrial complex”.
In addition, measures are directed against resources and traders from third countries to buy Russian oil. “Now we are targeting people … buying oil (Russia) violating sanctions. We target oil refinery, petroleum industry, petrochemical companies in third countries, including China,” the head of the European Commission explained.
For the first time, limitations will affect cryptocurrency platforms, cryptocurrency transactions will also be banned to close Islamic financial holes used to ignore sanctions.
118 ships suspected of transporting Russian oil will also belong to sanctions, increasing the total number of ships to more than 560.
The European Commission has proposed to use Russia's assets to freeze to provide loans to Ukraine. “We are studying a new solution to sponsor Ukraine's defense efforts due to freezing Russian assets. We must clearly state: This is a conflict between Russia and the culprit to pay for this. The proposal will be sent in the near future.
The approval of the 19th sanctions has faced difficulties due to disagreements between European countries. Despite US calls to include secondary sanctions on India and China to buy Russian oil, the European Commission abandoned this step. In addition, the package does not include limitations on the granting Schengen visa to the Russians, causing disputes, because some countries, including Germany, have insisted on tightening the visa mode.
In Moscow, they have repeatedly emphasized that Russia can deal with the punishment pressure began by the West a few years ago, and show the absence of their courage to realize their inefficiency.