“Kallas says that today the ministers will discuss Syria, Ukraine and Georgia”, — write: www.radiosvoboda.org
According to her, the sanctions “are intended to counteract the circumvention of EU sanctions by targeting the shadow fleet of Russian President Vladimir Putin and to weaken the Russian military-industrial complex.”
“Russia continues its brutal attack against Ukraine and the Ukrainian people. This package of sanctions is part of our response to weaken the Russian war machine and those supporting this war, including Chinese companies. It demonstrates the unity of EU member states in our continued support for Ukraine. Our immediate priority is to ensure the strongest possible position of Ukraine,” Kallas said.
In addition, she assured that “the EU will continue to support the Ukrainian people on all fronts: humanitarian, economic, political, diplomatic and military. There can be no doubt that Ukraine will win.”
They were added to the sanction list 54 individuals and 30 organizations of Russia, China and the DPRKin particular, the restrictions apply to the Russian “shadow fleet”.
Also, according to the EU press service, sanctions have been introduced against:
- military personnel of the Russian Federation involved in the attack on “Okhmatdyt”;
- management of companies in the energy sector;
- persons responsible for the deportation of children, propaganda and circumvention of sanctions.
It is known that full sanctions have been imposed for the first time (ban on travel, freezing of assets, ban on providing economic resources – ed.) on Chinese subjectswhich supplies drone components and microelectronic components to support Russia
Expanded list of shipswhich are subject to a ban on access to ports and a ban on providing services related to maritime transport. Sanctions are directed against tankers from non-EU countries that are part of Putin’s “shadow fleet”. 52 vessels originating from third countries were sanctioned on these grounds, bringing the total number of vessels subject to sanctions to 79.
“32 new entities have been added to the list of those who support Russia’s military-industrial complex in its aggressive war against Ukraine. They will be subject to stricter export restrictions on dual-purpose goods and technologies, as well as goods and technologies that can contribute to the technological improvement of the Russian defense and security sector,” the EU official website said.
It is noted that some of these enterprises are located in third countries – China, India, Iran, Serbia, the United Arab Emirates and Serbia.
Earlier, on December 6, the ambassadors of the European Union countries could not agree on the 15th package of sanctions against Russia, the correspondent of Radio Svoboda reported.
At the same time, the Reuters agency, citing diplomatic sources, wrote that the adoption of the package was blocked by two countries. Their names have not been specified. According to the report, the main reason was disagreements over the time frame within which European companies should complete the withdrawal of investments from Russia.
The 15th package also includes sanctions against tankers carrying Russian oil. The issue of agreement on restrictions is planned to be considered later.
After the start of Russia’s large-scale war against Ukraine, most EU countries banned the import of Russian oil, but Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic made exceptions due to the lack of alternative supplies. The Czech Republic plans to modernize the pipeline from Italy to Germany and completely abandon Russian oil by the second half of 2025.
The 14th package of sanctions, approved in June 2024, included restrictions on the transit of Russian liquefied natural gas through European ports and also required companies with subsidiaries in third countries to prevent the re-export of dual-use technologies to Russia.