The measures also block many Russian ships and cargoes from entering the EU, further crippling trade and banning all transactions with four Russian banks, including VTB. (VTBR.MM) The coal ban, the first ever imposed by the EU on any energy imports from Russia, will take full effect in the second week of August. No new contracts can be signed from Friday. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Existing contracts should be terminated by the second week of August, which means that Russia can continue to receive payments from the EU for coal exports until then. read more “These latest sanctions were imposed after the atrocities committed by the Russian armed forces in Bukha and other Russian-occupied areas,” top EU diplomat Josep Borrell said in a statement. The Kremlin has said that Western allegations that Russian forces committed war crimes by executing civilians in the Ukrainian city of Butsa were a “monstrous forgery” aimed at discrediting the Russian military. The carbon ban alone is estimated by the Commission to be worth € 8 billion a year in lost revenue for Russia. That’s double what EU Commissioner Ursula von der Leyen said on Tuesday, read more. Oil and gas imports from Russia, which remain untouched so far, total about 100 billion euros a year. In addition to coal, new EU sanctions ban Russia from importing many other goods and products, such as wood, rubber, cement, fertilizers, high-quality seafood such as caviar, and spirits such as vodka, for a total additional value is estimated at 5.5 billion euros ($ 5.9 billion) per year. An EU official said the combined import bans were worth at least 10% of what the EU buys from Russia in one year. This adds to the previous import bans that hit the steel and iron sectors. In total, up to one-fifth of all imports from Russia in value are expected to fall due to direct sanctions. The EU has also cut exports to Russia of certain products, including aircraft fuel, quantum computers, advanced semiconductors, high-tech electronics, software, sensitive machinery and transport equipment, totaling € 10 billion a year. Adding previous export bans to other technology, the EU has so far blocked about a quarter of its total exports in value to Russia, an EU official said. Sanctions also bar Russian companies from participating in public procurement in the EU and extend bans on the use of cryptocurrencies, which are seen as a possible means of circumventing sanctions. Read more. PROSCRIPTION The Commission said another 217 people had been added to the EU blacklist as part of a new package of sanctions, meaning their EU assets would be frozen and subject to travel bans in the EU. Most of them are political leaders in the Luhansk and Donetsk breakaway regions, but the sanctions also hit top businessmen, political soldiers near the Kremlin and even two daughters of Vladimir Putin. That brings to 900 the number of people sanctioned by the EU since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which Moscow calls a “special operation” to demilitarize and “denationalize” the country. Another 18 entities have also been hit by asset freezes, including four banks and military companies, nearly doubling the number of companies blacklisted by the EU since the start of the war. The banks subject to sanctions are VTB (VTBR.MM), one of the largest in Russia, Sovkombank, Novikombank and Otkritie. All of them were already excluded from the SWIFT messaging system, which was a big blow to their ability to transfer money. However, EU officials said that by freezing their assets, the EU was now blocking all transactions with these banks, which it considered to be the toughest possible measure against creditors. The leading Russian banks managing energy transactions, notably Sberbank (SBER.MM) and Gazprombank, escaped again, although Sberbank boss Herman Gref was hit by a freeze on assets. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Report by Francesco Guarascio and Bart Meijer. editing by Philip Blenkinsop, Andrew Heavens, Nick Macfie and Raissa Kasolowsky Our role models: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
