The European Union is planning a 14th round of sanctions against Moscow over Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine, a senior EU official said on Friday.
The new sanctions package includes punitive measures against individuals and organizations that aid efforts to circumvent existing EU sanctions against Russia, the senior EU official said.
An EU diplomat said punitive measures should consider tankers or the “black fleet” transporting Russian oil, despite existing sanctions in place to prevent this.
New people and organizations will be affected by the freezing of their assets in the bloc, according to diplomats. The European Commission is expected to present proposals for sanctions next week.
The 13th package of sanctions on Russia was adopted in February, on the second anniversary of the war against Ukraine, and targeted 106 individuals and 88 organizations.
This included individuals involved in supplying weapons from North Korea to Russia and the North Korean defense minister.
Several rounds of EU sanctions have been imposed on Russia, targeting different sectors of the economy that contribute to the Kremlin’s war against Ukraine.
This extended to import bans on crude oil, coal, steel, gold and luxury goods, as well as punitive measures against banks and other financial institutions.
Furthermore, trade restrictions were imposed on so-called “dual-use goods” that could contribute to the technological development of the Russian defense and security sector.
Work continues on a plan to use a large portion of the profits from the storage of frozen Russian central bank funds in the EU to buy military equipment for Ukraine.
