Irish EU Presidency: Agreement reached on 21st package of sanctions on Russia
Agreement has been reached on the European Union’s 21st package of sanctions on Russia, according to a message on X on July 23 from Irish Foreign Minister Helen McEntee, whose country is the current holder of the Presidency of the Council of the EU.
“This package further targets Russia’s revenue streams, impedes its shadow fleet and disrupts its supply-chains. Europe stands with Ukraine against Russia’s brutal war of aggression,” McEntee said.
European Council President António Costa said on X: “Our 21st sanctions package targets the sectors with the highest impact: energy, financial services, crypto, and trade. Our support for Ukraine and for a just and sustainable peace remains unwavering”.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen welcomed the agreement.
The final content of the sanctions has been shaped, since Von der Leyen announced the proposal on July 9, by objections to some of the proposed provisions from Greece, France, Italy, Germany, Austria, Portugal and Bulgaria.
“At a time when Ukraine has built military momentum, our sanctions continue to weaken the economic foundations of Russia’s war effort,” Von der Leyen said on X on July 23.
“We’re adding 32 more Russian banks to our transaction ban list. As well as crypto firms and oil trading platforms. Freezing the oil price cap adjustment for a year, so that the Russian war machine does not benefit from market shocks,” she said.
“For the first time, we’re targeting vessels assisting Russia’s shadow fleet. And we took an important step towards formally banning Russian combatants from entering the EU,” Von der Leyen said.
A change from the initial proposals is the dropping of a complete ban on the transportation of Russian liquefied natural gas to third countries. EU companies will be able to continue transporting Russian LNG under contracts concluded before February 24 2022 – the date of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine – but will not be allowed to conclude new contracts or expand existing operations.
While Von der Leyen said that there was an “important first step” towards banning Russian combatants from entering the EU, this is less than the initially proposed complete ban.
Bulgaria’s “reservations” – the word used by Prime Minister Roumen Radev – resulted in the government saying that the proposed sanctions against Russian Patriarch Kirill, Lukoil shareholder Vagit Alekperov and oligarch Iskander Makhmudov were not included in the final version of the sanctions. The Radev government has claimed that the exclusion of the three from sanctions was in Bulgaria’s “national interest”.
(Photo: EC Audiovisual Service)
