After frantic negotiations until the last moment, the European Union approved a tenth package of sanctions to Russia on the day of the first year since the invasion of Ukrainethe Swedish EU presidency said on Friday evening.
“Together, EU member states have imposed the strongest and most far-reaching sanctions ever to help Ukraine win the war,” announced the presidency on Twitter.
“The EU is united around Ukraine and the Ukrainian people. We will continue to support them as long as it is necessary.”
The package includes tougher export restrictions on dual-use goods, as well as crackdowns on entities that support the war, spread propaganda or deliver drones used by Russia.
With two hours to midnight, EU member states crossed the finish line with little time to spare, after Poland threw a wrench into the negotiation.
Warsaw said the proposed restrictions on EU imports on Russian rubber included such a large share of exempted imports and such long transition periods that they would have no effect in practice.
Other EU countries were puzzled that Warsaw, one of Russia’s main detractors in the bloc, was risking no new sanctions being announced in the first year since Moscow’s attack on Ukraine over just one aspect of the package.
“This is very bad optics. What was supposed to be key here is a message of solidarity with Ukraine on this special day.”, said a diplomat involved in the confidential negotiations between the 27 EU countries in Brussels.
All member states must pass sanctions for them to be enacted, making talks between the 27 often tedious and lengthy.
The EU has said the 10th round of sanctions against Russia since the war began was designed to make it harder to finance the war and deprive the country of technological equipment and spare parts for weapons used against Ukraine.
The moves were also aimed at blacklisting more people, including figures the West views as Russian propagandists and whom Kiev says are responsible for the deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia and those involved in the production of Iranian drones deployed in The front.
Source: Reuters
Source: Gestion
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