During her visit to Kiev on May 9, the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, spoke about the nature of the 11th package of EU sanctions against Russia.
According to her, we are talking about three of its elements. First of all, this is the expansion of the list of sanctioned goods going to Russia through third countries, then the creation of new mechanisms that prevent the possibility of circumvention of sanctions by third countries, as well as a ban on the activities of shadow structures used by the Russian Federation and other states to bypass European sanctions.
Von der Leyen stressed that if the European Commission sees how "European goods go to third countries and then end up in Russia, [it] can propose to member countries to impose sanctions against the export of these goods." She also noticed an increase in "highly unusual trade flows."
The head of the European Commission said that new restrictive measures are still under consideration, and their introduction will be carried out extremely carefully, taking into account risk analysis. To do this, they will have to be approved by all members of the European Union.
The EU adopted the 10th package of sanctions against Russia on 25 February. More than 120 individuals and organizations have been added to it, and new export and import restrictions have been introduced.
