EU Adopts 9th Sanctions Package on Russia
The EU levied its ninth package of economic and individual sanctions on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine. The new restrictions, announced by the European Council Dec. 16, impose export controls on dual-use goods, expand sanctions on banking and broadcasting firms in Russia, set a new ban on investment in the Russian mining sector and add a "significant number" of new financial designations.
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The new dual-use export controls include an expansion of the list of entities subject to sectoral restrictions by 168 entities involved in enhancing Russia's defense and security sector. Entities in Crimea or Sevastopol also were added to the list to avoid circumvention of the restrictions. "This will ensure that key chemicals, nerve agents, night-vision and radio-navigation equipment, electronics and IT components that could be used by the Russian war machine cannot be freely traded," the council said.
The EU also imposed new export controls on goods related to the aviation and space industry, including for aircraft engines, engine parts and unmanned aircrafts, the EU said. "From now on there will be a ban on the direct exports of drone engines to Russia and any third country that could supply drones to Russia," the council said.
The council also introduced a new exemption for certain agricultural or food products. Under the "derogation," the EU will "unfreeze assets" and "make funds and economic resources available to" people with a "significant role in international trade in agricultural and food products, including wheat and fertilisers."
Restrictions were also levied against the banking and broadcast sectors, with the EU imposing an asset freeze on two more Russian banks while adding the Russian Regional Development Bank to the list of Russian state-owned or controlled entities subject to a full transaction ban. For the broadcasting restrictions, the council began the process "for suspending the broadcasting licenses of four additional media outlets: NTV/NTV Mir, Rossiya 1, REN TV and Pervyi Kanal," which it said contribute to the spread of misinformation about the war.
The EU also banned the provision of EU advertising, market research, public opinion polling and product testing and inspection services to Russia, while expanding the ban on new investments in the Russian energy sector by barring new investments in the Russian mining sector. The mining ban exempts mining and quarrying activities pertaining to certain critical raw materials. EU nationals now are also barred from holding any posts on the governing bodies of all Russian state-owned or controlled legal persons, entities or bodies in Russia.
Sanctions were further levied against a "very significant number of additional individuals and entities," the EU said. Added the EU's Foreign Affairs Representative Josep Borrell: "After food and hunger, [Russian President Vladimir] Putin is now weaponising the winter, by deliberately depriving millions of Ukrainians of water, electricity and heating. The European Union is responding to this latest escalation and war crime with our 9th package of hard-hitting sanctions. We will continue targeting the economy and against those who are instrumental in this brutal war."