The EU-27 have reached an agreement on Thursday for the adoption of the ninth round of sanctions against Russia in retaliation for aggression in Ukraine, diplomatic sources have confirmed to Europa Press, following a meeting of European ambassadors on the sidelines of the meeting of EU heads of state and government in Brussels.
The meeting of ambassadors has managed to unblock the situation to adopt the new batch of sanctions, which will be approved by written procedure this Friday. In this way, it has cleared the reluctance of Poland and Lithuania, which were demanding guarantees to ensure that the impact of the sanctions would not be minimized by too many exemptions for the transport of Russian fertilizers.
Six Member States with port interests, including Spain, had circulated a document to define the exemptions and ensure that they are limited exclusively to the maritime transport of food and fertilizers to allow them to reach developing countries, calming criticism from Warsaw and Vilnius.
The latest round of sanctions over the escalating conflict in Ukraine includes the expansion of the ‘blacklist’ to add 144 individuals and 48 entities responsible for Russian attacks on civilian targets in Ukraine, already approved by foreign ministers on Monday. The restrictions extend to the Russian Armed Forces in addition to ministers, governors, leaders of Russian political parties and Duma representatives.
The sanctions also seek to block Moscow’s access to drones and other unmanned weaponry that can be used against civilians in Ukraine, and include a ban on direct exports to Russia and exports to third countries such as Iran, which helps with military supplies to Russia.
More economic measures in this ninth package affect the mining sector, including a veto on mining investments in Russia. On the financial side, it tightens restrictions against three Russian banks and bans transactions of the Russian Regional Development Bank. Meanwhile, to combat Russian propaganda, the EU-27 will have on the table the suspension of broadcasts in Europe of four more channels, after having done the same with Russia Today and Sputnik.
DEROGATIONS ON THE SEA TRANSPORT OF FERTILIZERS Poland and Lithuania maintained their blockade of the new round of sanctions because of their opposition to relaxing certain measures on the maritime transport of fertilizers and foodstuffs linked to Russian oligarchs under the pretext of food safety. Also of concern was the extension of some sectoral sanctions that expire in January and whose renewal depends on a decision to 27.
On his arrival at the meeting, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda called for sanctions to be kept as tight as possible and urged not to use food safety as «an excuse to lower sanctions on Russian oligarchs».
Several diplomatic sources explain that in the end there will indeed be waivers as requested by the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Portugal, Spain and France, which consider that the current legal situation contributes to the criticism that the sanctions actually hinder trade in food and fertilizers.
For this reason they demanded «urgently an exemption for agricultural products, including fertilizers subject to restrictive sectoral measures, establishing that the asset freezing measures should not apply to funds or economic resources that are strictly necessary for the purchase, sale, import, export or transport of food and agricultural products from or through Russia or Ukraine,» according to the proposal to which Europa Press has had access.
The introduction of an exemption on the transfer to third countries of fertilizers and food «would provide legal certainty to our operators and ensure that exports of fertilizers to third countries are not hindered by this measure», defended these six Member States.
