Europe and UK tighten sanctions on Russia over Ukraine attack

The European Union raised its tone on Thursday and expanded economic sanctions against Russia in retaliation for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. The leaders of the 27-member European bloc agreed to step up retaliation, this time with an ally that recently left the group, the United Kingdom.

In a speech to Parliament, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced sanctions against more than 100 banks, businessmen, politicians and enterprises that have ties to the Kremlin. Among them, Russian airline Aeroflot, the country’s biggest airline, will be banned from landing in the UK.

The package also provides for the freezing of assets of some of the main Russian banks, including state-owned VTB, the country’s second largest.

In addition, the UK will prevent large Russian companies from seeking funding in the country. The measure is expected to have an impact on the business of the Russian elite, which has been linked to the London capital market for decades.

The British capital’s proximity to the owners of Russian money even gave it the nickname Londongrad, a combination of the name of the English city with the word “city” in Russian. According to diplomats interviewed by Reuters, the Russian elite go to London frequently, enroll their children in British schools and shop in London’s main shopping centres.

According to Boris Johnson, about half of Russian business today is in US dollars and British pounds. Among those targeted by British sanctions is Kirill Shamalov, Putin’s former son-in-law.

“For our part, today, the UK is announcing the biggest and toughest package of economic sanctions Russia has ever seen,” he said. Boris also said that the Russian president would be condemned for the invasion and that he would never be able to clean the “blood of Ukraine from his hands”.

But the measures will take time to take effect. The estimate is that sanctions will start to impact the Russian economy in 12 months.

Fears from foreign investors over sanctions saw the ruble record its biggest one-day drop in history, according to Russian financial markets, losing 4.5% against the dollar. The Moscow stock exchange fell by almost 40%.

Boris also called for Russia to be excluded from Swift, the interbank messaging network that is the backbone of international finance. The demand was also made by the Ukrainians, but some European leaders still resist the idea.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has opposed the idea of ​​excluding Russia from the global system, and the demand is not expected to form part of the sanctions package announced by the European Union on Thursday. Scholz’s strategy, like that of Italian leaders, is for the penalties to be gradual, as Putin advances. The main fear of some nations is that gas supplies will be reduced within their borders.

Ahead of the release of sanctions by the European Union, which largely resemble those applied by the United Kingdom, the German premier said the West would use all available resources to ensure that the conflict in Ukraine did not spread to other countries in Europe.

“Putin must not underestimate NATO’s determination to defend all its members. This expressly applies to our NATO partners in the Baltic States, Poland and Romania, Bulgaria and Slovakia,” the chancellor said.

“President Putin wants to go back in time, but there is no way to go back to the 19th century, when great powers ruled over heads of smaller states,” he added.

Two days ago, Scholz had already announced the freezing of the certification of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, which intends to link Russia to Germany. The project is of great interest to Russians and Europeans.

French President Emmanuel Macron said in a nationally televised statement that “last night’s events mark a turning point in European history” and that “we will respond to this act of war without weakness, with cold blood, determination. and unity”.

Before the advances of Putin’s troops into Ukraine, the French leader had shown himself to be one of the most committed to resolving the conflict diplomatically. He spoke several times with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his Russian counterpart.

Meanwhile, Warsaw is concerned about yet another consequence of escalating tensions in Eastern Europe, refugees. Due to Ukraine’s geographical position, families who feel threatened by the war must migrate to Poland, the largest country in the west – the two nations share 535 kilometers of border.

On Thursday, Polish Interior Minister Mariusz Kaminski announced that Poland would soon open nine reception centers for Ukrainian refugees and said the country was prepared to receive “thousands of wounded” if necessary. “There will certainly be a wave of refugees,” he said.

The minister also stressed that Poland will accept “as many people as necessary”. The Polish Ministry of Health said, in turn, that places had been prepared to treat the wounded. “It would be possible to accommodate thousands of patients. Poland has the necessary stocks of medicines.”

Poland’s actual ability to host refugees, however, is uncertain. Last year, the Polish government clashed with Belarus after dictator Alexander Lukachenko (Putin ally) encouraged thousands of Iraqi immigrants to seek refuge in Poland, which the European Union country did not accept.

The United Nations estimates that around 100,000 Ukrainians have already fled the country amid the Russian invasion. So far, however, refugees are mainly destined for Moldova and Romania.

See some reactions from European leaders to Putin’s actions