The EU prepares new sanctions on Russia after Putin’s statement

The statements of Russian President Vladimir Putin will have consequences. The head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, warned this yesterday, and it has been confirmed this morning when the member states have assured that they are preparing a new series of sanctions against Moscow. The mobilization of 300,000 reservists, the referendums in the occupied territories and the threat of using nuclear weapons are a red line that the European Union (EU) is not willing to tolerate.

«Russia has chosen the path of confrontation (…). The EU expresses its utmost condemnation of the plans to organize illegal referendums to annex the territories of Donetsk, Kherson and Luhansk”, states the joint declaration of the Twenty-seven. Russia’s plans are nothing but “another violation of Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity,” he adds. For this reason, the EU will approve “as soon as possible” a new series of sanctions on the country, which will be applied in coordination with the allied countries. Similarly, the text points out that the EU “will never recognize” the occupied territories as part of Russia.

Putin’s last speech, in which he assured that Moscow could use nuclear weapons, constitutes “a threat to Europe and the world (…), but they do not break our determination to support Ukraine for as long as necessary.” Moreover, Europe intends to “reaffirm” its commitment to kyiv by sending more weapons to the Ukrainian Army.

Since the beginning of the war, the EU has launched economic and diplomatic sanctions on Russia, as well as individual punishments of people closely related to the Kremlin leadership. The latest European measures against Moscow include the suspension of visas with Russia and the veto on imports of coal and oil -with certain exceptions-. Although the Twenty-seven have not yet specified what the new round of sanctions will include, the imposition of a cap on Russian gas imported into the EU has been discussed for weeks. The measure, which the member states most dependent on Russian gas do not like, would limit Moscow’s profits, as well as its ability to finance the war in Ukraine.