European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.Figure: flipping Twitter
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is urgent, and the country has mobilized forcibly recruited soldiers to the battlefield. On the other hand, under the leadership of the Kremlin, the governments of the four regions of Ukraine occupied by the Russian military have declared that they may “join” Russia in the next few days after passing a referendum. The European Union’s executive committee on the 28th proposed a new round of sanctions over Russia’s latest “escalation” in Ukraine, including a cap on Russian oil prices and an export ban on Russian products worth 7 billion euros.
Agence France-Presse and Archyde.com reported that the European Commission also plans to expand the blacklist of travel bans and asset freezes to include senior Russian defense officials and organizations that held referendums on joining Russia in the Ukrainian-occupied territories. “Last week, Russia escalated its invasion of Ukraine to a new level,” said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Von der Leyen referred to Russia’s “sham” referendum in Russian-occupied Ukraine, military mobilization in Moscow and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “threat to use nuclear weapons”. “We do not accept fake referendums (in Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine) and annexation of any kind, and we are determined to make the Kremlin pay for the further escalation of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine,” von der Leyen told reporters.
The EU’s 27 member states must agree to a new round of sanctions, and the European Commission is laying the “legal basis” for a cap on Russia’s oil prices under a G7 agreement. The EU will also seek to impose export bans on 7 billion euros worth of Russian products and tighten restrictions on EU goods that could help Russia’s war machine.
Von der Leyen mentioned: “The purpose of this move is to deprive the Kremlin of key military technology. This includes, for example, other aviation products, electronic components and special chemical substances.” In addition, the proposal also includes a ban on EU citizens from holding Russian state ownership. corporate board members. Those who help Moscow evade sanctions will also be blacklisted, said Josep Borrell, the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs and security policy.
The European Union has imposed seven unprecedented rounds of sanctions on Moscow since Russia invaded its pro-Western neighbor Ukraine in late February. The European Commission is expected to explain the details of the new sanctions proposal to member states at a closed-door meeting later today, with the 27 member states expected to discuss it for the first time on the 30th, and EU leaders from October 6 to 2018. The meeting was held in Prague on the 7th.