The European Council has approved its 16th package of sanctions against Russia in response to Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, according to a statement on the Council’s website.
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The new measures target 48 individuals and 35 entities accused of “undermining or threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine.”
The E.U. also imposed restrictions on 74 vessels that it classifies as part of Russia’s shadow fleet.
Additionally, 13 Russian banks will be disconnected from the SWIFT international banking system, though their names were not disclosed. For the first time, the E.U. has also banned financial transactions involving credit and financial institutions outside Russia that use the Russian Central Bank’s System for Transfer of Financial Messages (SPFS).
The sanctions extend to eight Russian media outlets, including Lenta.ru and Zvezda TV, which will lose their broadcasting licenses in the E.U. The Council said these outlets had “been essential and instrumental in bringing forward and supporting Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, and for the destabilization of its neighboring countries and of the E.U.”
The package also expands restrictions on exports of goods that support the development of Russia’s defense industry.
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Better late than never, but it is almost funny that Lenta.ru and especially Zvezda TV just got sanctioned. I will add that Lenta.ru was somewhat sane before 2014, but the editors got kicked out and were replaced by genocidal imperialists.
It would have been far more effective to immediately sanction all russian and russian-adjacent companies and then whitelist the ones that can prove beyond reasonable doubt that their business is not involved with the military.
I assume they did it in tranches to allow ramping up or down. However, it seems like they are lagging in the ramp up.