TIMES.KY

Cayman Islands, Caribbeanand International News
Saturday, Jun 10, 2023

EU targets Russian coal and ships in new sanctions

EU targets Russian coal and ships in new sanctions

The EU is proposing further sanctions against the Kremlin after allegations of Russian war crimes in Ukraine, with EU ambassadors meeting on Wednesday to decide what steps to take.

European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen said planned measures included an import ban on coal and a ban on Russian ships and road operators.

The US is also planning more sanctions.

And UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss is calling for a "tough new wave" of sanctions from G7 and Nato ministers.

She said her Japanese counterpart had agreed the international community had to increase pressure on Russia's Vladimir Putin "and his war machine with further co-ordinated sanctions".

EU officials had earlier indicated the focus would be on enforcing existing measures.

But revelations of atrocities, with hundreds of bodies of civilians found in towns abandoned by Russian troops, have given added impetus for new measures.

"The new sanctions will probably be adopted tomorrow," French European Affairs Minister Clément Beaune said on Tuesday.

Ms von der Leyen said the proposals included:

*  A ban on coal imports worth €4bn a year, and a full ban on four Russian banks including Russia's second biggest bank VTB

*  A ban on Russian ships entering EU ports (with some exemptions) and on Russian and Belarusian road transport operators

*  Bans on EU exports in advanced semiconductors and machinery worth €10bn and other EU imports on wood and cement, seafood and alcohol.

*  Russian companies would also be barred from taking part in competing for contracts across the EU.

The EU was also working on other sanctions including on imports of Russian oil, she said.

This is the fifth set of EU sanctions so far. Earlier measures have ranged from individuals including Vladimir Putin and hundreds of Russian MPs, to the financial and energy sectors. The 27 member states plan to cut use of Russian gas by two-thirds by the end of this year and then make Europe entirely independent of Russian fossil fuels by 2030.

There is an active debate in Germany on imposing a total embargo on Russian energy, but the government warns it would trigger a recession and mass unemployment and for the moment it has ruled it out. "If it would stop the war, then we would do it immediately," said Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock.

At the start of the war Germany was quick to halt the big Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia before it went online


Germany relied on Russian gas for 55% of its imports last year, while for the EU as a whole it was 40%.

Experts widely agree that sanctions agreed by the West until now are unprecedented but Eddie Fishman rates them at "seven or an eight of 10 in intensity". He was a lead official in the US State Department in 2014 when sanctions were drawn up in response to Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014.

"Oil remains the life-blood of Russia's economy," he argues. "Putin has made billions of dollars since the war began and Russia's oil sales remain very strong."

The EU's latest proposals tighten sanctions on four Russian banks. Although major Russian banks have been shut out of the Swift financial messaging system, two of the biggest are not.

Again, it's energy-related. Sberbank and Gazprombank facilitate energy payments from Europe to Russia.

Lithuania announced that from the start of this month it had put a stop to all Russian gas imports.

"Look friends, you can do the same," President Gitanis Nauseda told his EU counterparts. It had become possible through investment in liquified natural gas and electricity link infrastructure, he explained.


But could the EU, as a whole, really turn off the taps to Russian energy?

There have been warnings of factory closures, jobs losses and plummeting public consent for sanctions.

You would have to pray for warm and windy weather, says Jacob Kirkegaard of the German Marshall Fund. Warm to lessen the need for heating homes - and windy to power Europe's electricity generating turbines.

And while Mr Kirkegaard agrees with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz that a ban could trigger a recession, he believes the blow to Russia would be worse.

"The Russian government would, in my opinion, be compelled to start printing large amounts of new roubles with the risk of inciting significant additional inflation in Russia."

Beyond energy, sanctions so far have hit Russia's tech, aviation and finance sectors, as well as its oligarchs - the wealthy Russians who made their fortunes under President Putin's patronage.

But, as Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky reminded Belgian lawmakers in an address last week, there are other awkward areas where business goes on.

Rough diamonds are still moving from Russia to Antwerp and sea ports remain open to Russian shipping.

So while trade ties between the EU and Russia have been seriously frayed, strained but lucrative connections remain.

An energy embargo remains the "ultimate" economic severance weapon, and Germany is usually cited as the main obstacle to that. But other countries are accused of hiding behind Chancellor Olaf Scholz's frank assessments.

"Germany is really afraid of what might happen to its economy," says Prof Karen Pittel, a director at the Ifo Institute for Economic Research in Munich.

"But in principle, if it happens tomorrow, then we'll survive it."

She also believes that the outlook has shifted after President Putin began demanding payment for gas in roubles. Germany refused but Prof Pittel says it's possible there may come a time when Germany has no other choice than to abandon Russian energy.

It still seems extremely unlikely that Europe will be cut off from Russian supplies in one, big dramatic move, but pressure is mounting.

"Clear and determined sanctions are necessary. These sanctions are not working," Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said this week.

Until recently, the idea of an energy embargo would not have just seemed unlikely. It would have been unthinkable.

AI Disclaimer: An advanced artificial intelligence (AI) system generated the content of this page on its own. This innovative technology conducts extensive research from a variety of reliable sources, performs rigorous fact-checking and verification, cleans up and balances biased or manipulated content, and presents a minimal factual summary that is just enough yet essential for you to function as an informed and educated citizen. Please keep in mind, however, that this system is an evolving technology, and as a result, the article may contain accidental inaccuracies or errors. We urge you to help us improve our site by reporting any inaccuracies you find using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page. Your helpful feedback helps us improve our system and deliver more precise content. When you find an article of interest here, please look for the full and extensive coverage of this topic in traditional news sources, as they are written by professional journalists that we try to support, not replace. We appreciate your understanding and assistance.
Newsletter

Related Articles

TIMES.KY
Close
0:00
0:00
US and European Intelligence Agencies Uncover Evidence of Ukrainian Role in Terror Attack on Nord Stream Pipeline
Nvidia Joins Tech Giants as First Chipmaker to Reach $1 Trillion Valuation
Drone Attack on Moscow's Wealthiest Neighborhoods Suspected to be Launched by Ukraine
AI ‘extinction’ should be same priority as nuclear war – experts
Prominent Hacker Forum RaidForums Suffers Substantial Data Breach
Nvidia CEO Huang says firms, individuals without AI expertise will be left behind
WPP Revolutionizes Advertising with NVIDIA's AI Powerhouse
Two US Employees Fired For Chasing Robbers Out Of Store As They Broke ''Company Policy''
If you donated to BLM, you got played
Pfizer, the EU, and disappearing ink - Smoke, Mirrors, and the Billion-Dose Pfizer Vaccine Deal: EU's 'Open Secret
Actor Tom Hanks told Harvard University graduates to be superheroes in their defense of truth and American ideals, and to resist those who twist the truth for their own gain
The Sussexes' Royal Rebound: Could Harry and Meghan Markle Return to the UK?
A provocative study suggests: Left-Wing Extremism and its Unsettling Connection to Psychopathy and Narcissism
France Arrests 10 on Suspicion of Failing to Respond in Time to Migrant Drowning
Neuralink Receives FDA Approval for First-in-Human Clinical Study
Is Saudi Arabia the holiest place in the world? Ancient Hebrew Inscriptions from "The Mount Sinai Stand" Discovered in Saudi Arabia
Ukrainian Intelligence Official Admits to Assassination Attempts on Putin
Bernard Arnault Loses $11.2 Billion in One Day as Investors Fear Slowdown in US Growth Will Reduce Demand for Luxury Products
Russian’s Wagner Group leader: “I am not a chef, I am a butcher. Russia is in danger of a revolution like in 1917.”
TikTok Sues Montana Over Law Banning the App
Ron DeSantis Jumps Into 2024 Presidential Race, Setting Up Showdown With Trump
Last Walmart in North Portland Closing Down
Florida's DeSantis seeks to disqualify judge in Disney case
Talks between US House Republicans and President Biden's Democratic administration on raising the federal government's $31.4tn debt ceiling have paused
Biden Administration Eyeing High-Profile Visits to China: The Biden Administration is heating things up by looking into setting up a series of top-level visits to Beijing by top officials in the coming months
New evidence in special counsel probe may undercut Trump’s claim documents he took were automatically declassified
A French court of appeals confirmed former President Nicolas Sarkozy's three-year jail term for corruption and influence peddling
Debt Ceiling Crises Have Unleashed Political Chaos
Weibao Wang, a former software engineer at Apple, was charged with stealing trade secrets related to autonomous systems, including self-driving cars
Mobile phone giant Vodafone to cut 11,000 jobs globally over three years as new boss says its performance not good enough
Elon Musk compares George Soros to Magneto, the supervillain from the Marvel Comics series.
Warren Buffett Sells TSMC Shares Over Concerns About Taiwan's Stability
New Study Finds That Secondary Bacterial Pneumonia Is a Major Cause of Death in COVID-19 Patients Who Require Ventilator Assistance
The Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines calls the British monarchy "an absurdity" he wants to remove in his lifetime
King Charles III being crowned.
'Godfather Of AI' Geoffrey Hinton Quits Google To Warn Of The Tech's Dangers
A Real woman
Vermont Man Charged with Stalking After Secretly Tracking Woman with Apple AirTag
Elon Musk Statements About Tesla Autopilot Could Be 'Deepfakes,' Lawyers Claim. Judge Evette Pennypacker Does Not Understand How Far and Advanced This Technology Became
Ukraine More Prepared for Counterattack as Reinforcements Arrive
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni Discuss Migration, Defence, and Ukraine
AT&T's Successful Test of Satellite-Based Phone Call Raises Possibility of Widespread Coverage
CNN: "Joe Biden is asking for four more years — when 74% of Americans think the country is heading the wrong way“
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Cuts Short Live TV Interview Due to Health Issue
US Congresswoman threaten Twitter Files journalist with arrest
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh slams New York Times' pro-government stance and treatment of sources
Enough is enough: it's time to end the war in Ukraine. While Russia may be to blame for starting it, Russia is not the one refusing to stop it
Fox News Settles their case with Dominion Voting Systems for a staggering $787.5 MILLION
AG decries scapegoating and rushed lawmaking by government
The land of the free violence
×