The European Commission adopted on Wednesday its proposal for a tenth package of sanctions against Russia for the “imperialist war” launched in Ukraine, which covers critical technologies for the Russian war machine and also targets the “propaganda machine” of the Kremlin.
“For almost a year, Russia’s war of aggression has sown death and destruction. Vladimir Putin is not only waging a brutal war on the battlefield, he is also brutally attacking civilians. The perpetrator must pay for this, and that is why today we are increasing the pressure with a tenth package of sanctions”, announced the president of the community executive, Ursula von der Leyen, who urges the Member States to adopt it without delay so that enters into force on February 24, the date on which a year has passed since the beginning of the invasion.
Speaking to the press after participating in a debate in the European Parliament on the first anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces, Von der Leyen began by stressing that the proposal contemplates “additional prohibitions on exports worth of more than 11 billion euros, to deprive the Russian economy of critical technology and industrial goods”.
“For maximum impact, we are targeting many industrial goods that Russia needs that it cannot get from other countries like China. Vital goods such as electronic equipment, specialized vehicles, machine and engine parts, parts for trucks and jet engines. And we point to goods for the construction sector that can be directed to the Russian armed forces, such as antennas or cranes,” he explained.
The German leader added that restrictions on the “export of dual-use goods and advanced technology goods” will be tightened, proposing “controls on 47 new electronic components that can be used in Russian weapons systems, including drones, missiles, helicopters.” . ., as well as “in specific rare earth materials and thermal cameras”.
“With this, we ban all technological products found on the battlefield. And we will make sure that [os russos] they will find no other way to get there. For this reason, for the first time, we are adding entities from third countries to Russia’s dual-use sanctions,” said Von der Leyen, who in his speech this morning in the Chamber of Strasbourg had already stated that, for the first time, the EU would target “Iranian entities, including those linked to the Revolutionary Guard”
“Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have been supplying Russia with ‘Shahed’ drones to attack civilian infrastructure in Ukraine. Consequently, we are now adding seven Iranian entities to our dual-use regime. articles. And we stand ready to list more Iranian and other third-country entities that are supplying sensitive technology to Russia. This should act as a strong deterrent to other international businesses and traders,” he stressed.
Assuring that Brussels “is working closely with Member States, operators and partner countries to combat Russian evasion” of sanctions, the President of the Commission confirmed that this tenth package of sanctions, which is already being evaluated and discussed among the 27, also it is aimed at the “Russian propaganda machine”.
“Putin is also waging a war in the public space, with an army of propagandists and disinformation networks. They are spreading toxic lies to polarize our societies. Therefore, we propose to include Putin’s propagandists, as well as more military and political commanders, on the list, ”he said. .
The President of the Commission has stressed that “the toughest sanctions ever introduced by the European Union” are already in force and it is necessary to ensure that they cannot be circumvented.
“We will follow the oligarchs who try to hide or sell their assets to escape sanctions. And, together with the Member States, we will establish an overview of all the frozen assets of the Russian central bank in the EU. We need to know where they are located and how much they are worth. This is crucial in view of the possible use of Russian public assets to finance reconstruction in Ukraine,” he said.
Von der Leyen concluded with a “call on Member States to quickly adopt this new sanctions package”, as “the goal is to have, together with the G7 partners, more significant sanctions by February 24, exactly one year after Putin launched his imperialist war”.
Source: TSF
