A fresh round of sanctions against Russia is being coordinated by the US, EU, and Group of Seven, including a US ban on investment in Russia and an EU ban on coal imports.
Speaking at the press conference on Tuesday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters new sanctions as a part of the continuation of the US efforts to put consequences in place and to hold Russian officials accountable, will target Russian government officials, their family members, Russian-owned financial institutions, as well as state-owned enterprises.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said earlier on Tuesday, the EU is proposing a ban on most Russian ships and trucks from entering the bloc – with exceptions made for oil, gas, food, and medicines – expanding export controls on technologies used in the Russian defense sector and other key industries, as well as restrictions on sales of equipment that can be used to liquefy natural gas.
The EU will also push ahead with a debate on Russian oil and Russian coal imports, which is a sensitive issue in Europe, considering the fact that most of the countries are dependent on Russian fuel imports.
Oil imports, as the EU diplomats say, could be part of a sixth sanction package the base of which could also be prepared during Wednesday’s meeting of EU member states’ ambassadors to discuss the current proposal.
The EU sanctions are targeting more entities, including four banks – which represent 23% of the market share in the Russian banking sector – that have been cut off from the Swift global payments messaging system but are not yet fully sanctioned, such as VTB Bank PJSC, which represent 23% of the market share in the Russian banking sector.
Russian companies are also banned from participating in EU public procurement contracts.
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