The European Union has already reached an agreement to definitively approve a new round of sanctions against Russia. There are 15 since the invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022. The highlight of this package is that ships from third countries that help Russia evade the sanctions applied by the EU and G-7 countries to crude oil are punished. of the Urals, as reported by Hungary, the country that during this semester is in charge of presiding over the Council of the Union, the body in which these measures are approved.
The negotiation of this package has been going on for months since the European Commission designed this new round and sent it to the Council. In addition to the punishment of these ships flying the flag of third countries, the final version of what the ambassadors of the Twenty-Seven agreed on this Wednesday also expands the list of sanctioned people, including 69 more; Among them is Igor Tonkovidov, CEO of Sovcomflot, the largest Russian oil and gas shipping company. Entities located in China, Türkiye or the United Arab Emirates are also punished and those considered responsible in Brussels for undermining the territorial integrity of Ukraine.
The political agreement reached now has to be formally ratified at the meeting of foreign ministers to be held next Monday. It will be the first time that the High Representative for EU Foreign and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas, who has held the position since December 1, will chair it. It is quite symbolic that it is in her first Council that this package of sanctions is approved, since she is one of the harshest voices against Russia since the attack on Ukraine began and, in fact, she debuted her position with a trip to kyiv together with the president of the European Council, António Costa.
We must keep up strong pressure on Russia.
Good to see the 15th sanctions package agreed.
It will further weaken Putin’s war machine.
— Kaja Kallas (@kajakallas) December 11, 2024
“We must maintain strong pressure on Russia. It is good to see that the fifteenth sanctions package has been agreed. It will further weaken Putin’s war machine,” the former Estonian prime minister wrote on the social network X to receive the agreement shortly after it was made public.
The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, another forceful voice against Moscow in Europe, has also welcomed the pact: “The EU and its G-7 partners are willing to maintain pressure on the Kremlin. “I welcome the agreement on our 15th sanctions package, directed in particular against Russia’s ghost fleet.”
