War in Ukraine: Von der Leyen (EU Commission), “let us turn up the pressure” on Russia “with a tenth package of sanctions”

“For almost one year now, Russia’s war of aggression has been sowing death and destruction. The aggressor has to pay for this. Today, we are turning up the pressure with a 10th package of sanctions. We propose further export bans worth more than €11 billion, to deprive the Russian economy of critical technology and industrial goods. We propose controls on 47 new electronic components that can be used in Russian weapons systems, including drones, missiles, helicopters”. The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, announced this in her address at the plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg on the new package of sanctions against Russia that will come into force by 24 February. “For the first time ever, we are adding third country entities to the Russia dual use sanctions, including those linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, that have been providing Russia with drones to attack civilian infrastructure in Ukraine. Therefore, we are now adding seven Iranian entities to our dual use regime. They are now under a complete ban to sell sensitive items to Russia. We stand ready to list further Iranian and other third country entities that are providing sensitive technology to Russia”. Concerning the fake news spread by Russian propaganda, she said: “We are proposing to list Putin’s propagandists as well as additional military and political commanders”. As for the reconstruction of Ukraine, “we will track oligarchs trying to hide or to sell their assets to escape sanctions” in view of “the possible use of public Russian assets to fund reconstruction in Ukraine”.
Irene Giuntella