EU sanctions against Russia take effect on Wednesday

The European Union (EU) awaits the entry into force on Wednesday of the sanctions approved this Tuesday against Russia, which include a ban on entering European territory for senior officials from that country, a limit on Moscow’s access to European financial markets and a trade embargo on the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

The final approval of the sanctions will take place on Wednesday morning, as well as their entry into force, with the publication in the Official Journal of the EU, reported the French presidency of the Council of the EU after a meeting held by the ambassadors of the Twenty-seven before the European institutions to give their necessary “agreement” to the same.

Now, they remain to do the “technical and legal verifications” of this first amount of sanctions and they will be done during the night, specified the presidency of the Council, which this semester is occupied by France.

Once this part of the process has been carried out, which is “very important because the sanctioned State can appeal the sanctions if it sees any legal loophole”, the written procedure is launched to the capitals for its definitive adoption, which is expected tomorrow, European sources explained to Efe.

In total, 27 people and entities, both military and political and economic, linked to Russia’s actions will be affected by the package agreed first this Tuesday in Paris by the EU foreign ministers and later approved by the aforementioned permanent ambassadors of the Twenty-seven in Brussels.

In addition, 351 members of the Russian parliament who voted in favor of recognizing the independence of the self-proclaimed separatist republics of Donetsk and Lugansk, in eastern Ukraine, along with the military responsible for the mission in Ukraine, will be sanctioned, but the president is not Vladimir Putin, whom the EU holds responsible for having brought Europe to the brink of war.

The sanctions target political but also military targets, those responsible for disinformation and economic interests.

This Tuesday’s package, as the heads of the European institutions made very clear, is only a “first step”, which will be followed by other more forceful sanctions if the Putin regime continues to destabilize Ukraine.

“No more shopping in Milan, parties in Saint Tropez or diamonds in Antwerp. This is a first step”, said the High Representative of the European Union (EU) for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell.

For her part, the president of the European Commission (EC), Ursula von der Leyen, pointed out that the package of European sanctions includes measures very well “calibrated”, which are directly directed against “individuals and companies involved in these actions, as well as banks that finance the Russian military apparatus and contribute to the destabilization of Ukraine”.

“We will do everything possible so that the Kremlin cannot continue its aggressive actions” affirmed the president of the Community Executive in a statement without questions before the cameras this afternoon.

“If Russia continues to escalate this crisis it has created, we stand ready to take further action in response.”, warned Von der Leyen.

Also the president of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, gave the “welcome” tonight to “extensive EU sanctions against members of the Duma, banks and companies that limit access to EU capital, financial markets and trade”.