Kuleba: Only gas, oil embargo and de-SWIFTing of all Russian banks to stop Putin

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba has said that the 5th package of tougher sanctions against Russia will not stop Putin. An embargo on Russian gas and oil and cutting all Russian banks off from SWIFT are needed.

“I appreciate the strengthening of the 5th EU sanctions package: bans on Russian coal, vessels accessing EU ports, and road transport operators. But it will take a gas/oil embargo and de-SWIFTing of all Russian banks to stop Putin. Difficult times require difficult decisions,” Kuleba posted on Twitter.

Earlier, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen outlined the peculiarities of the EC proposals on the fifth round of sanctions against the Russian Federation over its invasion of Ukraine.

According to her, the fifth package of sanctions, which “will cut even deeper in the Russian economy”, has six main pillars, including an import ban on coal from Russia, worth EUR 4 billion per year to cut another important revenue source for Russia.

On February 24, Russian president Putin started a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Russian troops shell and destroy infrastructure, massively fire on residential areas of Ukrainian cities, towns, and villages using artillery, MLRS, and ballistic missiles.

The European Union, the United States, and other countries have imposed strong sanctions on Russia as an aggressor state.

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