European Commission presents draft 20th package of sanctions against russia

The European Commission presented a draft 20th package of sanctions against the aggressor country of russia for the full-scale war against Ukraine. This was announced on February 6, by the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen.

According to her, while the trilateral talks are taking place in Abu Dhabi, the European Union needs to clearly understand that russia will only sit down at the negotiating table if pressure is put on it.

"This is the only language that russia understands. That is why we are taking tougher measures today. The Commission is proposing a new package of sanctions - the 20th since the beginning of russia's aggressive war against Ukraine," the head of the European Commission said.

The new package of sanctions proposes a complete ban on maritime services for russian crude oil, as well as a new ban on the import of metals, chemicals and minerals that are not yet subject to sanctions.

It is proposed to add 43 more vessels to the sanctions list, which are part of the so-called "shadow fleet". With its help, the russian federation sells energy resources to circumvent sanctions. The European Commission also proposes that the EU ban russia from purchasing tankers for use in the "shadow fleet" and impose a complete ban on the provision of maintenance services for tankers and icebreakers.

In addition, the draft of a new package of sanctions is proposed to be directed against the financial sector of the russian federation, adding 20 more russian regional banks and companies that allow trading in cryptocurrency to the list.

The draft of the 20th package of sanctions also includes additional export restrictions on goods and technologies that russia uses to produce weapons.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, the day before, US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessant said that Washington's further sanctions against Moscow would depend on the results of the negotiations.

Last Wednesday, February 4, Bloomberg reported that the US had prepared additional sanctions against russia, but there are currently no signs of their implementation.