Ukraine insists that the energy embargo should be combined with systemic financial and trade sanctions. In particular, it is necessary to disconnect all russian banks, including Gazprombank, from the global financial system. Further expansion of personal sanctions and measures against russian companies is needed.
The head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andriy Yermak said this in a comment to LB.ua regarding the statement of the international expert group on the continuation of sanctions against the russian federation.
"Insane revenues from the sale of energy allow Russia to continue the criminal and bloody war. And EU's procrastination with the next sanction phases has already helped the aggressor somewhat adapt to previous sanctions. Too much time has passed since the EU imposed the fifth package of sanctions," he said.
According to Andriy Yermak, Ukraine welcomes the adoption of the sixth package, but sanctions pressure on russia needs to be stepped up.
"The sixth package is an important and much-needed step that will reduce russian oil exports to the European Union by 90% by the end of this year," he said. "However, our international expert group believes that this is not enough." And I want to remind you that our group includes more than fifty experts from different countries. So we insist that a total energy embargo is vital. And as soon as possible. Today, we argue that it is imperative to speed up work in the European Union on a new sanctions package. You can't give the aggressor time to rest and adapt. "
Andriy Yermak stressed that Russia continues energy blackmail and is trying to split the EU and the entire coalition of democracies worldwide.
"A striking example is the cessation of gas supplies to several countries for their refusal to pay for it in rubles. Therefore, the sooner Europe abandons russian energy, the safer all Europeans and the world will feel, he said. - The Energy Sanctions Roadmap, published by our international expert group on May 9, contains detailed recommendations for the gradual and complete abandonment of all types of russian fuel by the European Union. We provide advice on how to reduce the damage to the economies of European countries and quickly gain their complete independence from the aggressor country. And the sooner the EU agrees and takes these steps, the easier it will be for Europeans to move towards that goal, including preparing for the coming winter. In this paper, we also suggest how to reduce russia's revenues during the transition period. And this is fundamentally important for the destruction of the aggressor's potential to wage a long bloody war."
That is why Ukraine calls on the world to cut any business ties with russia, Andriy Yermak stressed.
"It is also crucial that most countries recognize it as a terrorist state at the legislative level. Ukraine is very grateful to those partners whose parliaments voted in favour of such resolutions," he added.
At the same time, Ukraine calls on the governments of the partner countries to move much faster.
"One can't stop imposing sanctions until russia stops its aggressive actions. After all, every day russia proves its inhuman terrorist nature. It poses a threat to all the inhabitants of our planet. Blackmail by the energy crisis in Europe, the global food and hunger crisis in dozens of countries, and blackmail by nuclear weapons. What else does russia need to do to finally wake up politicians in different countries and understand that the aggressor must be stopped immediately? How many more Ukrainians do russian troops have to kill and torture? How many more of our cities and towns do they have to wipe off the face of the earth?"
According to Andriy Yermak, no one can feel safe until the destruction of Russia's military potential and the cut off of russia's financial and technical resources to wage this war and new aggressive wars. "Therefore, tougher and faster sanctions are needed. And our expert group described them in detail in two documents - on general sanctions and on a full energy embargo. Only coordinated actions of many countries worldwide will be able to curb the aggressor effectively. And such resolute unity will be a warning for other potential aggressors. And then the whole world will be safer. "
On June 2, the Yermak-McFaul group released a new statement on the EU sanctions policy.