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European Commission president outlines new sanctions against Russia

European Commission president outlines new sanctions against Russia
Ursula von der Leyen
Photo: EPA/UPG

The EU is stepping up the pressure on Russia with a ninth package of sanctions, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced on 7 December.

She accused Russia of "bringing death and devastation" to Ukraine and "deliberately targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure, seeking to paralyse the country at the beginning of the winter".

She said the EU stands by Ukraine and is making Russia pay for its cruelty.

"First, we are proposing to add almost 200 additional individuals and entities to our sanctions list. This includes the Russian armed forces, as well as individual officers and defence industrial companies, members of the State Duma and Federation Council, ministers, governors and political parties, among others. This list covers key figures in Russia's brutal and deliberate missile strikes against civilians, in the kidnapping of Ukrainian children to Russia, and in the theft of Ukrainian agricultural products.

"Second, we propose to introduce sanctions against three additional Russian banks, including a full transaction ban on the Russian Regional Development Bank to further paralyse Putin's cash machines.

"Third, we also want to impose new export controls and restrictions, particularly for dual-use goods. This includes key chemicals, nerve agents, electronics and IT components that could be used by the Russian war machine.

"Fourth, we will cut Russia's access to all sorts of drones and unmanned aerial vehicles. We propose to ban the direct exports of drone engines to Russia and the export to any third countries, such as Iran, which could supply drones to Russia.

"We will also target the Russian propaganda machine by taking four additional channels off the air and all other distribution platforms.

"And we propose further economic measures against the Russian energy and mining sector, including a ban on new mining investments in Russia," she said.

She noted that this package comes on top of the full EU import ban on Russian seaborne oil that came into force this week. As well as the global oil price cap agreed between the G7.

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