EU's Latest Russia Sanctions Package Includes Aluminum Ban, New Export Controls
The EU unveiled its latest Russia sanctions package this week, including an import ban on primary aluminum; new export controls on dual-use items used by Russia’s military; more restrictions against Russia's energy sector; new sanctions against companies, people and vessels helping Moscow evade trade restrictions; and more.
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The new measures -- the 16th sanctions package the European Commission has issued against Russia for invading Ukraine in 2022 -- feature a phased-in ban on primary aluminum from Russia to go along with the bloc’s existing ban on imported processed aluminum goods. The ban will take effect one year after the package is adopted. Until then, the EU said it will set an import quota of 275,000 tons of primary aluminum over the next 12 months, which is about 80% of the EU’s Russian aluminum imports from 2024.
The EU also is imposing new export controls on dual-use items and other technologies Russia has been using on the battlefield against Ukraine, the commission said, including chemical precursors that make up chloropicrin and other chemical agents that Moscow is using as chemical weapons. New controls also target software related to computer numerical control machine tools used to make weapons, video-game controllers used by the Russian army to pilot battlefield drones, and “chromium ores and compounds due to their military applications.”
Certain exemptions for those exports, such as for medical uses, “have been clarified and further tightened to support effective application by customs and licensing agencies,” the bloc said. Other measures place additional export controls on industrial goods used by Russia’s military, including certain minerals, chemicals, steel, glass materials and fireworks.
Other measures look to expand restrictions on Russian crude oil and petroleum. The EU said it’s “completely” prohibiting Russian crude oil or petroleum products from being temporarily stored at EU ports -- including under free trade zone procedures -- even if the oil complies with the global price cap on Russian oil and is being moved to a third country. It’s also extending its existing service-related restrictions -- which had previously applied to Russian liquified natural gas projects -- to also cover Russian crude oil projects, such as the Vostok oil project.
Along with new Russian sector restrictions and export controls, the sanctions package also designates 74 ships that are moving Russian energy as part of the country’s shadow fleet, 53 new companies helping Russia evade sanctions, and 83 additional people and entities either supporting Russia’s military complex or that have other ties to Russia.
The EU also placed more restrictions on banks and other financial institutions with ties to the Russian financial sector, imposed a “ban on construction services provided by EU operators in Russia,” introduced more transport-related restrictions, and more.
The presidents of the European Parliament, European Council and the European Commission called the EU’s sanctions “unprecedented,” adding that the latest package will “further increase collective pressure on Russia to end its war of aggression.” They also said the EU plans to continue supporting Ukraine, including by working to help the country accede to the EU.
“Ukraine has made significant progress in accession related reforms under the most challenging circumstances. We are already integrating Ukraine into the EU’s internal market,” the statement said. “The future of Ukraine and its citizens lies within the European Union.”