EU adds another 8 individuals, 3 corporations to its Russian blacklist — EU Council

World July 30, 2014, 17:27

The sanctions against them will take effect after publication in the Official Journal of the European Union

BRUSSELS, July 30. /ITAR-TASS/.  The Council of the European Union adopted in a written procedure the inclusion of eight more people and three corporations to the revised black list of Russian citizens and organizations, the organization said in its statement.

“Eight persons and 3 entities have been added to the list. This brings the number of persons and entities under EU restrictions over Ukraine to 95 persons and 23 entities,” the statement said.

The EU also announced additional restrictive measures against Russia’s Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the federal city of Sevastopol.

“The Council adopted restrictive measures related to trade and investments linked to 6 sectors; ban on new investment, interdiction of key equipment’s export and financial and insurance services related to such transactions,” the statement said in regard to Crimea and Sevastopol.

The sanctions will take effect after their publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

“The Council is due to adopt the legal acts to enforce these economic sanctions through a separate written procedure on 31 July,” the statement concluded.

The package of sanctions is introduced for 12 months with the possibility of revision in three months.

The first element of the sectoral punitive measures will be restriction of access of Russian state banks to the European stock market. The EU has not specified which banks will be affected. According to sources, the talk is about financial institutions the state share in whose assets constitutes at least 50%

The EU plans to ban European investors from not only purchasing securities of these banks but also from selling them at European stock markets, including London. Financial sanctions only relate to new deals and have no retroactive effect.

The second element is an arms embargo and a ban on supplies to Russia of dual use goods, first of all electronic products. The ban will also affect only new contracts. So Russia’s deal with France on acquisition of Mistral helicopter carriers will not automatically be affected by the ban.

Nor will be current agreements with a number of East European countries on maintenance of military hardware, first and foremost, of Soviet-and Russian-made planes and helicopters.

The third element will be a prohibition on new technology supply to Russia and on sales to Russia of high-tech equipment for the oil industry. According to preliminary information, the EU has decided not to touch upon the gas production issue yet over fears of possible countermeasures from Russia in the sphere.

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