EU approves 11th sanctions package against Russia

The European Union Council has approved the 11th package of sanctions against Russia for the unprotested invasion of Ukraine. Some previous restrictions are expanded in this package and dozens of new entities added to the list of sanctions.

By means of this package, the European Union is trying to prevent countries and other companies from bypassing the previously established measures.

The council published the sanctions after their adoption on June 23rd, saying the package would ensure that EU sanctions against Russia “are implemented even better, given lessons learned by their implementation during last year”.

Recent sanctions aim to close the gaps so that key goods and technology for Russia's combat efforts will not reach Russia through countries that trade with the EU.

The EU Council said it has added 87 new entities to the list of sanctions, which the EU says “is directly supporting Russia's military and industrial complex in its fight against Ukraine”. These companies, the European bloc said, are registered in China, Uzbekistan, the United Arab Emirates, Syria and Armenia.

“Systems are being placed in several countries for monitoring, controlling and blocking reexport”, the EU statement said.

“Abnormal trade patterns for some very specific products/places are strong evidence that Russia is actively trying to bypass sanctions. This requires that we double our efforts in handling the bypass and ask our neighbours for even closer co-operation”.

The new package allows for implementation of measures restricting export of goods and technology to third countries, which could then transfer them to Russia. New regulations allow the EU to exercise much more pressure to end previous practice

EU officials have long been concerned about an increase in the demand for EU products from Russia's neighbours, who have continued trade relations with Moscow.

The package also includes suspending EU transmission licenses for five other controlled Russian state media, bringing the total number of media to ten.

Furthermore, the package bans access to EU ports for ships engaged in transferring crude oil or oil products to the sea, if there is reason to suspect that the shipment is Russian-born.