EU announces new set of sanctions to punish Russia for its invasion of Ukraine

The European Union recently announced that the 27-nation bloc had greenlighted a new set of sanctions to punish Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine.

France, which holds the presidency of the EU, said the bloc “in consultation with our international partners, has approved the 4th package of sanctions targeting individuals & entities that are part of the aggression against Ukraine, along with several sectors of the Russian economy.”

The French presidency added in a statement that the bloc had approved a declaration to the World Trade Organization “on suspending the application of most-favoured-nation clause for Russia and suspending the examination of Belarus’ application for accession to the WTO.”

In case if Russia is suspended, its companies would no longer receive special treatment throughout the bloc.

The announcement was in line with what leaders had announced during the Versailles summit last Friday, that a strict package of sanctions would be upcoming if Russia continued its invasion of Ukraine. The actual information about the latest package of sanctions will only be known upon publication in the EU’s official journal.

Since the war began last month, the EU has adopted tough measures targeting Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russia’s financial system and its high-maintenance oligarchs. Last week, the bloc’s nations agreed to slap further sanctions on 160 individuals and added new restrictions on exporting maritime navigation and radio communication technology.

They have also planned to exclude three (3) Belarusian banks from SWIFT, the dominant system for global financial transactions. Altogether, EU restrictive measures now apply to a total of 862 individuals and 53 entities.

As per the statement after the summit, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the fourth package of sanctions would further isolate Russia and also going to drain the resources it uses to finance this brutal war.

She added that the EU would work in lockstep with the Group of Seven nations to ramp up the pressure against Moscow.