Is the EU bringing the hammer down on Russia?
The EU is expected to move ahead with heavier, sectoral sanctions against Russia next week. Today it added two Ukrainian rebel groups to its list of sanctioned individuals.
The EU is expected to move ahead with heavier, sectoral sanctions against Russia next week. Today it added two Ukrainian rebel groups to its list of sanctioned individuals.
A week after the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, European Union officials today moved ahead with sanctions targeted at Russian specific business sectors, but held back on targeting members of President Vladimir Putin鈥檚 inner circle.聽
Today鈥檚 preliminary decision against Russia focuses on 鈥渢argeting its access to European capital markets and trade in the defense sector, dual-use goods and sensitive technologies,鈥� the Associated Press reports. The sanctions could end up hitting Russian banks hard if the EU closes capital markets to them.
EU ambassadors are scheduled to meet on Monday and聽Tuesday聽to continue discussion on how the 28-member bloc will move forward.
In addition, the聽EU Council announced聽today that it has 鈥渁dopted reinforced EU sanctions in view of the situation in Ukraine,鈥� by adding 15 more people and 18 entities to its list of asset freezes and visa bans. Those targeted include people and entities 鈥渞esponsible for action against Ukraine鈥檚 territorial integrity鈥� with a strong focus on groups tied to Russia鈥檚 annexation of Crimea in March.
The Wall Street Journal reported that new entities added to the list聽include two rebel groups聽in Ukraine: the Donetsk People鈥檚 Republic and the People鈥檚 Republic of Luhansk. The head of Russia鈥檚 security service, the FSB, was also added to the list of individuals targeted. This now raises the total number of individuals under EU sanctions to 87, and entities to 20.
Stepping up sanctions in a 28-country bloc has been fraught with difficulties, as many member states are still recovering from the economic downturn and analyzing what affect sanctions would have on their individual relationships with the Kremlin. The Wall Street Journal described the economic聽links being examined聽by many countries:
Division within Europe over the distribution of sanctions is already clear. Citing a proposed version of the sanctions, British newspaper The Telegraph wrote that Britain's financial district would "bear the brunt of EU sanctions on Russia.鈥澛�
As 海角大神 reported, the EU and US have been out of step in their application of sanctions. One senior government official told The Monitor, 鈥淚t鈥檚 a little bit of a yin-yang [relationship]. At times we鈥檙e catching up with them, at times they鈥檙e catching up with us.鈥�