On July 18, the Foreign Ministers of the European Union (EU) countries agreed on a new package of sanctions against Russia: it includes 48 individuals, including one of the deputy prime ministers of the Russian government and several regional leaders. According to the head of the EU foreign service, Josep Borrell, following the meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels, sanctions will not stop the war in Ukraine, but should create many economic problems for Russia. He is quoted by TASS.
The new package does not contain additional restrictions on energy supplies and sanctions against Gazprombank. At the same time, the sanctions will include a ban on trading in gold and dual-use goods, restrictions on government purchases and accepting deposits, a ban on accounting services and auditing.
“EU countries cannot afford sanctions fatigue now, we must continue, we must maintain the restrictions we have imposed.”
According to him, the EU ban on oil from Russia is not the reason for the increase in oil prices, on the contrary, since its introduction, "prices have fallen." Borrell added that EU citizens are only paying the economic price, not being bombed.
The European Commission proposed the seventh package of sanctions against Russia on July 15. Before that, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said that the seventh package of sanctions would not include restrictions on Russian gas imports. According to him, this is due to the fact that when introducing new sanctions, the rule must be respected, according to which they should have a greater impact on Russia than on the countries that impose them.
