The European Union must focus on a new sanctions package to suffocate Russia’s economy and force President Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine, France’s foreign minister has said.
Speaking after the EU adopted a 17th sanctions package, Jean-Noel Barrot said that the impact of sanctions had been insufficient so far, and the bloc needed to work with the United States, where Congress has prepared crippling measures should US President Donald Trump decide to pressure Russia.
“We are adopting today a 17th sanctions (package),” Mr Barrot told news channel BFM TV.
“We will need to go further because the sanctions so far have not dissuaded Vladimir Putin from continuing his war of aggression.
“So we must prepare to expand devastating sanctions that could suffocate once and for all Russia’s economy.”
The 17th package sees some 200 ‘shadow fleet’ tankers sanctioned. Two countries still need to consult their own parliaments on the details but the package is expected to be adopted next week by the bloc’s foreign ministers, diplomatic sources said.
The latest tightening of sanctions comes as Russia and Ukraine may hold their first peace talks in Istanbul tomorrow since the early days of Russia’s February 2022 full-scale invasion.
In addition to the ships, the package adds new restrictions on 30 companies involved in the trade of dual-use goods while 75 individuals and entities will be listed for their links to Russia’s military industrial complex.
The countries have also agreed to expand the legal base for their sanctions framework on Russian hybrid threats. One of the new measures will allow the EU to sanction fleets that destroy subsea cables and other physical assets. A further 20 entities and individuals were added to this list.
Some European leaders have threatened to impose further sanctions on Russia if mR Putin does not agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine, but they would face formidable political obstacles and would need US support to succeed, officials and diplomats have said.
Mr Barrot, who will be in Turkey tomorrow for a NATO foreign ministers meeting, said he would hold talks there with US Senator Lindsey Graham on a US sanctions bill he is putting together.
That bill would impose tariffs of 500% on countries that imported Russian oil, Mr Barrot said.
“Russia has found ways to circumvent the blockage imposed by Europe and the United States so closing the tap would grab Russia by the throat,” he said.
Diplomats said discussions on a new EU package would take several weeks and aim to target the banking, financial and energy sector, but would face difficulties in securing the necessary unanimity among the bloc’s 27 members.
Under a human rights framework, the EU also agreed to place sanctions on judges and prosecutors involved in the cases against Vladimir Kara-Murza as well as Alexei Navalny, who died in an Arctic penal colony in February last year.
The countries have also agreed on an export ban on chemicals used in missile production, the diplomatic sources said.
Ukraine attacks on Russia’s Belgorod injure 16, regional governor says
A series of Ukraine drone attacks on the region of Belgorod injured at least 16 people yesterday, the governor of the region in Russia’s southwest that borders Ukraine said this morning.
Among the injured were a doctor and a paramedic, Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on the Telegram messaging app. Eight people were hospitalised, he added.
The Russian defence ministry said that its units destroyed 12 drones that Ukraine launched overnight, three of them over the Belgorod region. The ministry reports only the number of drones destroyed, not how many Ukraine launched.
Both sides deny targeting civilians.
Meanwhile, Russian forces took control of the town of Mykhailivka, in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, the RIA state news agency cited the Defence Ministry as saying.