The European Union has agreed to strengthen its arsenal of sanctions, which will allow Russia to “punish” countries that help it evade sanctions. The post writes about it Policy.
At the same time, the publication emphasizes that most likely the EU will not dare to “use” this “new weapon of sanctions”.
“EU ambassadors agreed this week on a new mechanism: if third countries do not comply with Western sanctions or cannot explain the sudden increase in trade in prohibited goods with Russia, they could be penalized by the EU,” Politico writes.
Under the new mechanism, the EU can draw up a list of goods and a separate list of countries where these goods can no longer be sold. But not everyone in the EU agrees that this would be a good move and insists it should be taken as a last resort. Countries including Germany fear that such a mechanism will damage diplomatic relations and even “force countries into the arms of Russia and China”.
“We don’t want to jump straight into punitive measures that carry a huge potential risk and that could throw these companies, especially in Central Asia, into Putin’s arms,” a European diplomat told the publication.
To allay these fears, the Commission added additional assurances to the document implying that sanctions would only be applied as a last resort. Such a decision effectively renders the new EU sanctions instrument ineffective, experts say.
On the eve of the EU’s new 11th package of sanctions against Russia entry thanks to. The new package imposes restrictions on 87 companies, 100 individuals, a number of media outlets and some firms from third countries.
The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in response to the 11th EU sanctions package introduced on 23 June, reportedMoscow has significantly expanded the list of EU representatives banned from entering the Russian Federation.