EU imposes more sanctions on Russia war in ukraine The measures followed on Thursday backed by the bloc’s 27 members, including a ban on gold imports, further sanctions on the country’s largest bank, and tighter export controls on some high-technology goods.
European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said the “EU’s reinforced, prolonged sanctions against the Kremlin” send a strong signal to Moscow: We will keep the pressure as high as it takes.
The EU has described the new round of sanctions as a minor adjustment and intends to align its actions with the commitments of global partners. No sanctions on Russian gas imports, which are still a lifeline for many large EU industries, are under consideration.
EU officials worked all week to tighten the bloc’s sweeping package of sanctions on Russia and look at ways to ban gold exports, hoping the measures could begin to have a decisive impact on the war in Ukraine .
On Thursday, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell was able to say, “We are effectively imposing sanctions on Russia’s most important export after energy – Russian gold.”
The Group of Seven major industrialized countries last month committed to a ban on gold, arguing that Russia has used its gold to back its currency, and that Russia has been using its gold reserves to back up its currency and trade off the world after the February 24 invasion of Ukraine. The effect of earlier sanctions has been mitigated.
The European Union also took further action against Sberbank, which had already been removed from the SWIFT international banking messaging service. The bank will be added to the EU sanctions list and its assets will be frozen, making all transactions impossible.
The EU also clamped down on sanctioned individuals, who are often oligarchs close to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
They now have to officially declare where their assets are in the EU in order to freeze the holdings. The EU said refusing to do so could lead to criminal charges and confiscation of assets.
On Monday, the European Union decided to increase military aid to Ukraine by 500 million euros.