The European Union expects to adopt the tenth package of sanctions against Russia by February 24, which marks a year since the start of the invasion of Ukraine, the President of the European Commission said on Thursday in Kyiv.
At a joint press conference with President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky on the occasion of the meeting of the Board of the European Commission and the Government of Ukraine, held this Thursday in Kyiv, Ursula von der Leyen assured that the EU will continue to make the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, pay for his brutal war with acceptance new sanctions later this month.
“Before Russia went to war, we warned very clearly of the huge economic cost we would incur if we invaded, and Russia is paying a heavy price as our sanctions stifle its economy,” said the chairman of the community executive branch. .
“And we’re going to increase the pressure even more. We are going to introduce with our partners in the G7 an additional price ceiling for Russian oil products, and on February 24, exactly one year after the start of the invasion, we expect to implement the tenth package of sanctions,” he said.
Von der Leyen added that “Russia will also have to pay for the destruction it causes and will have to do its part to rebuild Ukraine.”
“To do this, we are studying with our partners how to use Russia’s state assets. [congelados pela UE no quadro das sanções] for the benefit of Ukraine,” he said.
Last Monday, the EU decided to extend for another six months, until July 31, 2023, sanctions against certain sectors of the Russian economy, in force since 2014, in connection with the annexation of Crimea.
In a statement, the Council of the EU announced that it had decided to extend for six months the sanctions that began to be adopted in 2014, in response to Russia’s actions to destabilize the situation in Ukraine, with the illegal annexation of the Crimean peninsula and aggravated by successive packages of restrictive measures after the military offensive. started in February 2022.
These sanctions currently include, among other things, restrictions on the import and sea transport of crude oil and certain Russian petroleum products in the EU, a ban on access to the SWIFT (society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications) financial transaction system for certain banks. The Russians and the suspension of broadcasting activities and media licenses used by the Kremlin (Russian Presidency) as tools to manipulate information and spread disinformation, the same information note says.
The military offensive launched by Russia on February 24, 2022 in Ukraine has caused the flight of more than 14 million people to date – 6.5 million internally displaced people and almost eight million to European countries – according to the latest UN figures, which classify this migrant crisis as the worst in Europe since World War II (1939-1945).
At the moment, 17.7 million Ukrainians are in need of humanitarian assistance, and 9.3 million are in need of food aid and housing.
The Russian invasion, justified by Russian President Vladimir Putin on the need to “denazify” and demilitarize Ukraine for Russia’s security, was condemned by the international community at large, which responded by sending weapons to Ukraine and imposing political and economic sanctions on Russia.
The UN has presented as confirmed 7,068 civilian deaths and 11,415 wounded since the beginning of the war, stressing that these figures are much lower than the real ones.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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