The sources told Reuters, who asked not to be named due to the confidential nature of talks between representatives of the 27 member states of the bloc in Brussels, that the proposed new sanctions would be on trade flows estimated at 11 billion euros ($11.8 billion).
“The package will be ready in time for February 24th, it’s on a good track, there are no major points of contention,” said an EU diplomat familiar with the discussions.
Another said the talks were “generally relatively positive,” with some technical issues raised for clarification ahead of another meeting of ambassadors that could take place on Tuesday.
The European Union is looking to agree new reporting obligations on Russian assets from member states to better track them in Europe as it searches for ways to use it to fund Ukraine’s reconstruction.
EU officials said it has so far located an estimated 33.8 billion euros ($36.14 billion) of Russian central bank assets on its territory out of an estimated total of $300 billion frozen outside Russia.
Harsh penalties
The European Union says the tenth round of sanctions currently under discussion aims to make it more difficult to finance the war and deny Russia components needed to build weapons for the frontline.
The sanctions, which still require unanimous approval from EU countries, will target four more Russian banks and imports from Russia, including rubber, as well as exports to Russia, including heavy vehicles and other goods.
The sanctions will also include restricting sales of satellite data from the European Union to China.
The President of the European Commission said that all these combined sanctions on Russia are the harshest sanctions ever imposed by the bloc.
Although the sanctions are implemented in coordination and in conjunction with others from the United States and other allies in the Group of Seven major industrialized countries, they have not yet forced Russia to change course, and Moscow has intensified its attacks on Ukraine in the past few weeks.
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