The European Union’s race to impose sanctions against Russia in retaliation for the invasion of Ukraine is accelerating. In a single week, the expression “huge sanctions”, used by senior leaders, has taken shape. The Twenty-seven are going to ban the broadcast to the main Russian international televisions, those of public financing RussiaToday (RT) and Sputnik-TV, and its subsidiaries. At the same time, the European Commission is going to propose to the Member States the closure of airspace to Russian airlines, a measure that will almost certainly be approved, since almost all countries have already announced it – Spain, included – and punish the Belarusian regime of Alexander Lukashenko, for its collaboration in the aggression against Ukraine. These announcements by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, come just a few hours after she herself announced two harsh financial sanctions: the disconnection of several Russian banks from the SWIFT international payment system, and the freezing of the assets of the Russian Central Bank in the countries involved in this punishment (the EU, the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom).
Several of these measures are discussed in the EU Foreign Affairs Council, in which the 27 ministers of the branch are present, which is being held from six in the afternoon this Sunday. There will also be another historic step for the community partners: the financing of the purchase of war material (lethal and non-lethal) and other equipment sent to Ukraine by the Member States. It is not hidden in the community capital that the role of the Ukrainian president, Volodímir Zelenski, these days, launching videos through the networks has been decisive, since he is winning over European and global public opinion.
We are stepping up our support for Ukraine.
For the first time, the EU will finance the purchase and delivery of weapons and equipment to a country under attack.
We are also strengthening our sanctions against the Kremlin.
https://t.co/qEBICNxYa1– Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) February 27, 2022
Added to the efforts of Western states to isolate and hit Russia economically, have been the steps announced by the Norwegian sovereign wealth fund, the largest in the world that manages 1.3 trillion euros in assets, and that of the British oil company BP. . The Government of Oslo has warned this afternoon that it is going to leave the capital of the 47 Russian companies in which it had invested. For its part, BP will make a similar move by divesting from the Russian oil company Rosftnet, selling 20% of the capital it owns in the company.
As happened in the case of SWIFT, the veto against Russian planes flying over space has been a sanction that has made its way very quickly, in just a day and a half. On Saturday, the EU countries announced that they were going to close their skies (Poland, Bulgaria, Romania and the three Baltic republics: Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia) and this Sunday more have been added (Spain, Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, Denmark…). “Let me be clear, our airspace will be closed to any Russian aircraft, and this includes the private jets of the oligarchs,” Von der Leyen added, pointing to a group included in almost every round of sanctions against Moscow.
Although the closure of airspace is probably the measure with the greatest economic impact of this round of sanctions – and perhaps generates a reciprocal response from Russia – there is another more striking punishment: the closure of televisions financed with money from the Kremlin. “In another unprecedented step, we will ban the Kremlin’s media machine from the European Union. public media RussiaToday and Sputnik, plus all its affiliates, will not be able to spread their lies to justify Putin’s war and the division in our Union. We are developing tools to ban their toxic disinformation in Europe”, justified President Von der Leyen. Next to her was the High Representative for Foreign Policy of the European Union, Josep Borrell, who added: “Putin not only wants to conquer the Earth, he wants to conquer the spirit of the people through toxic messages, lies.”
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The Spanish socialist has highlighted another of the important steps that the EU is taking these days: financing the purchase of war material. “Another taboo has fallen. The taboo that the European Union was not a supplier of weapons in a war”. This is justified from Brussels because Ukraine is a country under attack and, therefore, the proposal is protected by international law. The proposal has risks, since, as community sources admit, it is not known how Putin will react to this unprecedented step.
However, the measure has yet to materialize and there is no unanimity among the Twenty-seven. To try to overcome reluctance, a formula is being sought in which countries that do not wish to participate make a “constructive abstention” and that their contribution to the budget can be apportioned to deduct it from the purchase. The third leg of the new sanctions package is not directed at the autocratic Putin regime, but at that of his Belarusian ally, Alexander Lukashenko, for backing Russian aggression in Ukraine.
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