Sanctions against Russia. The West hits the banks and the people of the regime. Seized property, entry bans

The war that Russia declared on Ukraine was met with responses from many Western countries. They do not engage militarily on the side of Poland’s neighbor, but introduce sanctions that are intended to hit the Russian economy, the oligarchs and people of the ruthless regime.

The European Union hits the regime of Russia. Long list of restrictions

The European Union decided to apply all three types of restrictions. On Thursday night, the EU decided to block 70 percent. the Russian banking sector. The restrictions also apply to key companies, including those from the defense sector, and will limit Russia’s access to Western technologies, including semiconductors, and the possibility of modernizing the refining sector.

The sale of airplanes and their parts will be banned. As von der Leyen emphasized, “75% of the elements of the air fleet were built in the EU, US or Canada”. Repair services and aircraft leasing will also be unavailable to Russians.

The new EU restrictions also prohibit granting loans to state-owned companies and buying securities by them. The EU also wants to hit the oligarchs – this is to be achieved by the fact that banks cannot accept deposits of more than 100,000 zlotys. euro. Both the Russian economic elite and representatives of the government will be subject to visa sanctions.

The above restrictions entered into force on Friday, February 25. Earlier, after the recognition of the self-proclaimed people’s republics in eastern Ukraine, the European Union imposed sanctions on 351 deputies of the State Duma and an additional 27 people (both natural and legal) who implemented the process of violating the integrity of Ukraine. The EU has also deprived Russian companies of access to EU funding.

Germany decided to take a separate, important step. They announced the halt of the certification process for Nord Stream 2. The second line of the gas pipeline, which bypasses Ukraine, will not be approved for use yet, although the pipeline itself is ready.

The United States is hitting banks and seizing assets

Joe Biden, like the European Union, also opted for two packages of sanctions. American companies cannot invest in Russian companies. Banks were also blocked. The United States also hit Russian oligarchs – the restrictions imposed on children of people connected with the services and intelligence.

On Thursday, after the bombing of Ukrainian positions began, the US introduced another package of sanctions. Joe Biden announced that the United States is blocking the activities of the four largest Russian banks in the US. – We are freezing their funds in the USA. Our sanctions also apply to the oligarchs, their families, and people who benefit from Russian actions in Ukraine. We will continue to expand the list of these names, emphasized Biden.

– We cut off Russia’s largest bank from the US financial system. We have frozen the foreign assets of the second largest Russian bank, VTB. We are adding to the list other names belonging to the Russian elite that will be subject to the sanction. Our most powerful actions will come over time as we reduce Russia’s access to finance and technology in strategic sectors. (…) We will cut off about half of high-tech imports for Russia. This will severely hit their military modernization capacity, severely restrict the aviation industry, including space programs. This will be a powerful blow to Putin’s long-term plans, he added.

Canada, Australia, Japan are reacting

Japan and Canada joined the restrictions by forbidding entry into their territory by residents of self-proclaimed republics. In addition to the ban on entry, Australia also froze the assets of members of the Security Council of the Russian Federation.

So far, the West has not decided to cut off Russia from the SWIFT system, which allows money to be transferred between banks.

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