BRUSSELS, March 15. /TASS/. The European Union officially approved the fourth package of sanctions against Russia, which includes economic and personal restrictive measures, the EU Council announced on Tuesday.
In particular, the EU limited imports of steel and iron from Russia, investments in the country's energy sector, exports of luxury goods to the country, and also imposed sanctions against Russian businessmen, journalists and companies. The list of sanctioned individuals and entities will be published later in the Official Journal of the European Union. After that the sanctions will come into force.
"This fourth package of sanctions is another major blow to the economic and logistic base upon which Russia relies on to carry out the invasion of Ukraine. The aim of the sanctions is that President Putin stops this inhuman and senseless war," Josep Borrell, High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, says as quoted by the EU Council.
Steel, iron, luxuries, energy
New EU sanctions against Russia include restrictions on steel and iron imports, investment in the country's oil and energy sectors, and luxury exports to Russia, the EU Council said.
According to the statement the Council decided in particular to "prohibit new investments in the Russian energy sector, as well as a to introduce a comprehensive export restriction on equipment, technology and services for the energy industry, introduce further trade restrictions concerning iron and steel, as well as luxury goods."
As European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen previously explained, luxury goods, in particular, include expensive cars and jewelry.
The European Commission believes that restricting steel imports could lead to a loss of 3.3 billion euros in revenue for Russia.
Credit ratings, WTO
According to the statement the Council also decided "to prohibit all transactions with certain state-owned enterprises, the provision of any credit rating services, as well as access to any subscription services in relation to credit rating activities, to any Russian person or entity."
The EU and other members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) have agreed to deprive Russian goods and services of the most favored nation regime in EU markets. The EU also states that Belarus' WTO accession process should be suspended.
Personal sanctions
The EU has expanded the blacklist for Russia to include businessmen, journalists and companies from the country.
"Furthermore, the Council decided to sanction key oligarchs, lobbyist and propagandists pushing the Kremlin’s narrative on the situation in Ukraine as well as key companies in the aviation, military and dual use, shipbuilding and machine building sectors," the statement says.
The list of individuals and entities against which sanctions have been imposed will be later published in the Official Journal of the EU. Currently, there are more than 600 people and companies on the black list.
Russia’s military operation
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on February 24 that in response to a request by the heads of the Donbass republics he had made a decision to carry out a special military operation in Ukraine, stressing that Moscow had no plans of occupying Ukrainian territories. Putin said that the goals of the operation are demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine.