Brussels presents 11th Moscow sanctions package to member states

The European Commission has presented the 11th package of sanctions against Russia to the Council of the European Union (EU), announced this Monday during the daily press conference of the community’s executive.

“I can confirm that the Commission’s proposal on the 11th package of sanctions was forwarded to member states on Friday,” said community administrator spokesman Eric Mamer, without going into detail about the content of the text.

This new proposal will focus broadly on “the application of sanctions, their effectiveness and how to prevent sanctions evasion”, namely which goods whose sale is prohibited but which nevertheless find a way to reach Moscow and the Russian military machine, said the spokesman.

Coreper (acronym for Committee of Permanent Representatives of the Governments of the Member States of the European Union, or the ambassadors of the 27 to the EU) will start analyzing the new package on Wednesday.

The EU imposed sanctions on Russia in response to the offensive war against Ukraine, which began on 24 February 2022, and the illegal annexation of the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporijia and Kherson.

The sanctions include specific restrictive measures (individual sanctions), economic sanctions and visa measures and are in addition to those imposed on Russia since 2014 following the annexation of the Crimean peninsula and the non-application of the Minsk agreements (related to the conflict in eastern Ukraine between the Ukrainian army and pro-Russian separatists).

The aim of the economic sanctions is to severely impact Russia’s actions and effectively impede Moscow’s ability to continue its military offensive against Ukraine.

Individual sanctions target individuals responsible for supporting, financing or carrying out actions that undermine the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine, or who benefit from such actions.

The Russian military offensive on Ukrainian territory plunged Europe into what is considered the most serious security crisis since World War II (1939-1945).