EU leaders agree on additional sanctions against Russia

The leaders of the 27 countries of the European Union (EU) agreed on Thursday sanctions with “massive and severe” consequences against Russia, in response to its military offensive in Ukraine, according to a statement adopted at the start of an emergency summit in Brussels.

“Sanctions will cover Russia’s financial, energy and transport sectors”says the declaration issued after the summit, and should be adopted “Without delay”.

The measures, whose details have not yet been disclosed, will also concern the control of exports, the issuance of visas and the inclusion of Russian officials on the sanctioned list.

The European Union had already adopted this week restrictive measures against Russian officials and entities for the recognition of the independence of two pro-Russian separatist territories in the east of Ukraine.

In the statement, the European Union requests “that Russia immediately cease its military actions, unconditionally withdraw all its military forces and equipment from the entire territory of Ukraine and respect the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence” of that country.

Russia, the European leaders pointed out in the text, is “fully responsible for this act of aggression and all the destruction and loss of human life it will cause. She will be held accountable for her actions.”

“Sanctions that hurt”

During the day, the head of the diplomacy of the European UnionJosep Borrell, had warned that with the enormous package of sanctions under study – the largest launched by the bloc – Russia ran the risk of a “unprecedented isolation”.

In turn, the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said that with the sanctions “We will weaken Russia’s economic base and its ability to modernize.”

“In addition, we will freeze Russian assets in the European Union and we will stop the access of Russian banks to the European financial market”advancement.

“We need sanctions that hurt”, said the Prime Minister of Belgium, Alexander De Croo, upon arriving at the meeting venue, in an expression that with numerous variations was repeated by several sources.

However, the countries of the European Union chose not now to exclude the Russian financial system from the SWIFT interbank system, as requested by the president of UkraineVolodymyr Zelensky.

A letter for later

A European diplomat confided to AFP that “several countries” they opposed taking that action now, preferring to keep that letter for later.

The head of the German government, Olaf Scholz, said upon arriving at the meeting venue that “It is very important that we decide on the measures that have been prepared in recent weeks and that we save everything else for a situation in which it would be necessary to do other things.”

Meanwhile, Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel said Russia’s eventual exclusion from the SWIFT system should be closely coordinated with other Western countries, in particular the United States and the United Kingdom.

According to the website of the Russian national association Rosswift, Russia is the second country – only surpassed by the United States – in number of users, with some 300 banks and institutions that are members of the system.

More than half of Russian credit organizations are represented on SWIFT, according to Rosswift.

On the day, the chancellor of UkraineDmytro Kuleba, noted on Twitter that those who oppose the Russian exclusion from the SWIFT system will have in their hands “the blood of innocent Ukrainian men, women and children.”

The declaration adopted this Thursday also expresses the “firm condemnation” of the European Union the participation of Belarus in the aggression against Ukraine.

Therefore, the document formulates a “Call for the urgent preparation and adoption of a package of economic and individual sanctions that also includes Belarus”.

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