The European Union agreed on Wednesday afternoon to slap Russia with a new raft of sanctions in relation to the invasion of Ukraine.
The main objective of the latest package is to crack down on the circumvention of the multiple penalties that have been imposed since February 2022.
Brussels has grown increasingly concerned about a steep rise in EU exports to countries in Russia’s periphery, such as Armenia, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, a possible red flag that backlisted items are making their way into the Kremlin’s hands.
The new sanctions reinforce export controls and introduce a new mechanism to target non-Russian companies that are suspected to be taking part in circumvention.
Specific details were not immediately known.
”I welcome the political agreement on our 11th sanctions package,” said Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission.
”It will deal a further blow to Putin’s war machine with tightened export restrictions, targeting entities supporting the Kremlin. Our anti-circumvention tool will prevent Russia from getting its hands on sanctioned goods.”
The breakthrough comes mere hours after the Ukrainian authorities decided to temporarily suspend the listing of five Greek shipping companies included in the list of ”international sponsors of war.”
Greece and Hungary had for weeks blocked the agreement on the new sanctions, which were proposed more than a month ago, in protest of the designation of their domestic companies.
Nevertheless, Kyiv kept intact the listing of OPT Bank, Hungary’s largest commercial bank.