The EU Council approved the twelfth package of sanctions against Russia in Brussels on Monday. In particular, the package includes the inclusion of additional natural persons and companies from Russia on the sanctions list, as well as new import and export bans on Russian goods. This also includes the ban on the export of Russian diamonds to Europe. Stricter supervision of tankers is intended to prevent circumvention of the oil price ceiling.
The sanctions against the diamond trade are part of the internationally coordinated action of the G7 countries. According to the European Commission, the aim is to deprive Russia of this important source of income worth an estimated four billion euros per year. All G7 members will implement a direct ban on the export of diamonds from Russia by January 1, 2024.
Assets of 140 other Russians frozen
The assets of more than 140 other natural and legal persons are frozen. This includes members of the Russian military and defense sectors, including military-industrial enterprises and private military companies, as well as the IT sector and other key Russian economic actors.
Ban on the import of liquefied gas
An import ban also applies to liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) with immediate effect. A grandfather clause applies to existing contracts with a term of up to twelve months. New measures restricting imports of certain metal products from Russia, as well as additional export restrictions on dual-use goods and certain technological and industrial goods, are also included in the twelfth package.
The focus of the eleventh package was on measures to prevent the circumvention of the previous sanctions. Here too, the new package includes tightening measures, for example the introduction of a new reporting obligation. According to this article, companies in the EU that are more than 40 percent directly or indirectly owned by Russian citizens or companies based in Russia will in the future have to report certain money transfers.
Ukraine has removed RBI from its list of war supporters
Last week, Austria entered a “review reservation” on the sanctions package but then withdrew it, paving the way for its acceptance. As of this weekend, the Ukrainian government no longer classifies Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) as an international supporter of Russia’s war of aggression. “The status is suspended for the period of bilateral consultations with representatives of the European Commission,” the Ukrainian National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption (NASK) said on its website on Saturday evening. The European Commission initially did not want to comment on the status of Monday’s consultation in Brussels.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
