EU Approves New Sanctions Against Russia, Belarus

European Union on Wednesday announced new sanctions against Russia and Belarus targeting Russian leaders, oligarchs, their family members, and the maritime sector.

The measures will also disconnect three Belarus banks from the SWIFT financial messaging system.
Today’s decision builds on the wide-ranging and unprecedented packages of measures the EU has been taking in response to Russia’s acts of aggression on Ukraine’s territorial integrity.

For Belarus, the measures introduce SWIFT prohibitions similar to those in the Russian regime, clarify that crypto-assets fall under the scope of “transferable securities” and further expand the existing financial restrictions by mirroring the measures already in place regarding Russia sanctions, added European Commission press release.

As guardian of the EU Treaties, the European Commission is in charge of monitoring the enforcement of EU sanctions across the Union.

The agreed measures will restrict the provision of SWIFT services to Belagroprombank, Bank Dabrabyt, and the Development Bank of the Republic of Belarus, as well as their Belarusian subsidiaries, added the release.

It will prohibit transactions with the Central Bank of Belarus related to the management of reserves or assets, and the provision of public financing for trade with and investment in Belarus.

For Russia, the amendment introduced new restrictions on the export of maritime navigation and radio communication technology, adds the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping to the list of state-owned enterprises subject to financing limitations and introduces a prior information sharing provision for exports of maritime safety equipment, read the release.

In addition, it also extended the exemption relating to the acceptance of deposits exceeding Euro 100.000 in EU banks to Swiss and EEA nationals.

Finally, the EU confirmed the common understanding that loans and credit can be provided by any means, including crypto assets, as well as further clarified the notion of “transferable securities”, so as to clearly include crypto-assets, and thus ensure the proper implementation of the restrictions in place, read the release.

Furthermore, an additional 160 individuals have been listed in respect of actions undermining or threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine.

The listed individuals include 14 oligarchs and prominent businesspeople involved in key economic sectors providing a substantial source of revenue to the Russian Federation and 146 members of the Russian Federation Council.

Altogether, EU restrictive measures now apply to a total of 862 individuals and 53 entities. (ANI)