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.
This was stated in a comment to LB.ua by the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andriy Yermak, commenting on 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 bloody war. And the delay in the EU with the next station steps has already helped the aggressor to partially 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 specialists from different countries. So we insist that a full energy embargo is vital. And as soon as possible. Today, we argue that it is extremely important 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 to blackmail energy and is trying to split the EU and the entire coalition of democracies around the world.
“A striking example is the cessation of gas supplies to several taps 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 full 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 end 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, and Ukraine is very grateful to those partners whose parliaments voted in favor of such resolutions," he added.
At the same time, Ukraine calls on the governments of the partner countries to move much faster.
"Sanctions cannot be stopped 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, blackmail by nuclear weapons, - said the head of the OP. - 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 russian troops have to kill and torture Ukrainians, 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 in the world can feel safe until the complete destruction of russia's military potential, the deprivation 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, - he is convinced. - Only coordinated actions of many countries around the world will be able to effectively curb the aggressor. And such resolute unity will be indicative of other potential aggressors. And then the whole world will be safer."