EU sanctions eighth package: designation of circumventers will have ‘major deterring effect’

The organisation of sham referenda in Russian-occupied territories, mobilisation of troops, and ‘[Vladimir] Putin’s threat to use nuclear weapons’ are ‘further steps on the escalation path.’ So said Ursula von der Leyen, late on 28September, announcing a proposed eighth package of ‘biting’ sanctions against Russia which will include ‘sweeping new import bans on Russian products’ to ‘keep Russian products out of the European market and deprive Russia of an additional EUR 7 billion in revenues’.

The sanctions will also, she said, include an extension of the ‘list of products that cannot be exported to Russia,’ with the aim of ‘depriving the Kremlin’s military complex of key technologies,’ including ‘additional aviation items, or electronic components and specific chemical substances.’

Other bans will include further restrictions on the provision of European services to Russia and prohibiting EU nationals from sitting on the governing bodies of Russian state-owned enterprises.

Von der Leyen said that the EU was also stepping up ’efforts to crack down on circumvention of sanctions,’ and, to that end, was creating a ‘new category’ of restrictive measure in the form of a power to ‘list individuals if they circumvent our sanctions.’

‘For example,’ she said, ‘if they buy goods in the European Union, bring them to third countries and then to Russia, this would be a circumvention of our sanctions, and those individuals could be listed. I think this will have a major deterring effect.’