EU ambassadors approve largest sanctions list against Russia to date

Filed 5h ago · Via NV · The Buffoon Desk

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Krampus Workshop

Kevin MacLeod · incompetech.com · CC BY 4.0

Photo: Unknown authorUnknown author · Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons

EU ambassadors approved their largest sanctions expansion against Russia yet, adding 743 individuals and 826 companies tied to Russia's military-industrial complex, from submarine builders to missile and semiconductor producers. The measures also hit 77 Russian lawmakers elected from occupied Ukrainian territory and extend restrictions over chemical weapons use. The sanctions take effect once published in the EU's Official Journal.

The expansion comes weeks after the Council quietly dropped businessmen Mikhail Fridman and Alisher Usmanov from an existing sanctions list, reportedly after lobbying from France, Slovakia and Luxembourg that bypassed Ukraine. The UK declined to follow suit. Fridman is separately pursuing a $16 billion claim against Luxembourg over frozen assets.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.

✒ FROM THE EDITORIAL DESK

Adding over a thousand names to a list sounds tough until you notice two names just quietly walked off it the other direction. A sanctions list is supposed to be a wall, not a turnstile with a side door for whoever knows the right ambassador. The bigger the new list, the more it's worth asking who still has a key.

Source: Read the original at NV → Scored: Krampus Workshop · Kevin MacLeod · CC BY 4.0