The European Union has agreed on the ninth package of sanctions against Russia, writes AFP. The Czech Republic, which holds the EU presidency, said that it will be officially confirmed on Friday, December 16.
Details of the package have yet to be released, but French President Emmanuel Macron called them "effective" and progressively damaging Russia's ability to manufacture and repair weapons. He stressed that restrictive measures should be supplemented by financial, military and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine.
Earlier, the European Commission proposed to include in the package personal sanctions against almost 200 Russian officials and the military. It was assumed that they would be denied entry to the EU, and their European assets would be frozen. It was proposed to introduce sanctions against several ministers, authors of various laws, governors and political parties. So far, it is not clear whether the EU countries have agreed on them. It is known that earlier they approved an embargo on the import of Russian coal and the transportation of oil by sea.
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis called the new sanctions a "missed opportunity": "It's sad that we had to spend so much time discussing easing rather than tightening sanctions. Together with Poland, we were able to provide additional security measures to close any loopholes. Lithuania will prefer to keep the gates closed.” According to EUobserver , Hungary insisted that the new package does not include sanctions against Russian Energy Minister Nikolai Shulginov, Sports Minister Oleg Matytsin and Health Minister Mikhail Murashko.