EU readies sanctions, says ‘Russia will feel the pain’

BRUSSELS, Feb 22 (Reuters) – The European Union is near agreeing sanctions on Russia that might put politicians and officers on blacklists, ban buying and selling in Russian state bonds, and goal imports and exports with separatist entities, senior EU officers stated on Tuesday.

Russia’s formal recognition of two breakaway areas in japanese Ukraine, is “unlawful and unacceptable,” European Council President Charles Michel and European Fee President Ursula von der Leyen stated as they spelled out deliberate sanctions.

Whereas EU member Germany’s determination to place the Nord Stream 2 gasoline pipeline undertaking on ice, is arguably probably the most far-reaching response to Moscow’s strikes, the bloc as an entire is planning a broad vary of measures, they stated. learn extra

“We have to make sure that no matter occurs, Russia will really feel the ache … to ensure Russia has completely no incentive to go additional,” Irish EU affairs minister Thomas Byrne stated earlier on Tuesday.

The bundle of sanctions, which officers hope EU overseas ministers will agree on at a gathering beginning in Paris at round 1500 GMT, contains placing on an EU blacklist those that had been concerned within the determination to recognise the breakaway areas.

That would contain all members of the decrease home of the Russian parliament who voted in favour of the popularity, one EU official stated.

The measures below dialogue would additionally see a ban on buying and selling in Europe of Russian state bonds and extra typically “goal the power of the Russian state and authorities to entry the EU’s capital and monetary markets and providers, to restrict the financing of escalatory and aggressive insurance policies,” the assertion stated.

Banks concerned in financing separatist actions in japanese Ukraine is also focused.

The 2 areas is also faraway from a free commerce deal between the EU and Ukraine, “to make sure that these accountable clearly really feel the financial penalties of their unlawful and aggressive actions,” the assertion stated.

Taking steps to restrict or ban Russia’s entry to the Belgium-based SWIFT world interbank funds system used for Russian cash flows “shouldn’t be a part of this primary bundle,” an EU official stated, with out saying if it may very well be added on afterward. learn extra

MORE SANCTIONS LATER?

Extra broadly, the measures below dialogue on Tuesday are thought of by the EU as a primary spherical of sanctions.

“We will scale up the depth relying on occasions on the bottom,” the EU official stated.

“It is the primary bundle, not the final bundle,” the official stated, including that the EU coordinated its motion with the USA in a single day and that this was mirroring sanctions taken when Russia annexed Crimea in 2014.

The EU had repeatedly stated it was able to impose “huge penalties” on Russia’s economic system if Moscow invaded Ukraine however has additionally cautioned that, given the EU’s shut power and commerce ties to Russia, it wished to extend sanctions in levels.

The EU was reacting “with robustness and pace to the unlawful actions of Russia in shut coordination with worldwide companions,” von der Leyen and Michel argued of their assertion. learn extra

Not the entire bloc’s 27 member states have the identical relation to Russia or dependency on its gasoline, which might ultimately complicate the adoption of sanctions – whether or not this bundle or doubtlessly harsher ones at a later stage.

EU officers and diplomats have stated some EU nations, together with Austria, Hungary and Italy, Russia’s closest allies within the bloc, would like extra restricted sanctions in response to Putin’s transfer on japanese Ukraine.

Others need to see a fuller, more durable vary of measures mentioned in current weeks for the occasion of a Russian invasion of Ukraine to be rolled out now. Baltic, central and japanese European states say powerful sanctions ought to be imposed instantly as Russia is already exhibiting navy aggression in direction of Ukraine.

Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, whose nation depends on Russian for a lot of its gasoline, advised a information convention in Rome that any sanctions mustn’t embody power imports. learn extra

“How we react as European Union will outline our character and certainly the way forward for Europe,” Lithuanian vice minister of overseas affairs Arnoldas Pranckevicius stated at a gathering in Brussels.

Reporting by John Chalmers, Robin Emmott, Sabine Siebold, Francesco Guarascio, Ingrid Melander, Marine Strauss, Bart Meijer, Padraic Halpin and Crispian Balmer
Writing by Ingrid Melander, Modifying by Angus MacSwan and Raissa Kasolowsky

Our Requirements: The Thomson Reuters Belief Ideas.