EU imposes embargo on Russian coal

The European Union (EU) countries approved, this Thursday (7), an embargo on Russian coal and the closure of European ports to the country’s vessels, as part of the fifth round of sanctions against Moscow for the invasion of Ukraine.

The new battery of sanctions, which an official of the French presidency of the Council of the EU called “quite substantial”, follows the discovery last week of dozens of civilian bodies in the town of Bucha, outside Kiev.

It also includes measures that restrict exports of high-tech goods to Russia, valued at 10 billion euros, and the freezing of assets of several Russian banks.

This is the first time that the bloc’s members have approved measures against the Russian energy sector, on which many European countries depend. The EU imports 45% of its coal from Russia, which amounts to around €4 billion a year. The embargo will take effect in early August.

In addition, the EU has expanded the list of Russian products whose importation is prohibited in the bloc to include some “raw materials and key materials”, estimated to be worth 5.5 billion euros a year, in an attempt to undermine the effort. Russian war.

In a series of messages posted on Twitter, the French EU presidency also noted that Russian and Belarusian carriers are banned from operating on EU territory.

The list of people sanctioned by the EU was expanded to 200 individuals, with the inclusion of Russian oligarchs and the two adult daughters of Vladimir Putin, according to a document to which AFP had access.

Russia “will suffer a long fall into economic, financial and technological isolation,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen explained on Twitter.