European Commission proposes ninth package of sanctions against Russia

President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said this in a statement, Ukrinform reports.

“Russia continues to bring death and devastation to Ukraine. It is deliberately targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure, seeking to paralyse the country at the beginning of the winter. We stand by Ukraine and we are making Russia pay for its cruelty,” she said.

According to von der Leyen, the eight packages of sanctions the European Commission introduced so far “are already biting hard”.

“And today, we are stepping up the pressure on Russia, with a ninth package of sanctions.

First, we are proposing to add almost 200 additional individuals and entities to our sanctions list,” the European Commission president said.

It is noted that the list includes the Russian armed forces, as well as individual officers and defence industrial companies, members of the State Duma and Federation Council, ministers, governors and political parties. 

“This list covers key figures in Russia's brutal and deliberate missile strikes against civilians, in the kidnapping of Ukrainian children to Russia, and in the theft of Ukrainian agricultural products,” she said.

The European Commission also proposes introducing sanctions against three additional Russian banks, including a full transaction ban on the Russian Regional Development Bank.

In addition, the European Commission imposing new export controls and restrictions, particularly for dual-use goods. This includes key chemicals, nerve agents, electronics and IT components that could be used by the Russian war machine.

Also, the European Commission prepared measures to cut Russia's access to all sorts of drones and unmanned aerial vehicles.

“We propose to ban the direct exports of drone engines to Russia and the export to any third countries, such as Iran, which could supply drones to Russia,” she said.

The ninth package envisages taking four additional Russia’s channels off the air and all other distribution platforms.

The European Commission also proposes further economic measures against the Russian energy and mining sector, including a ban on new mining investments in Russia.

As reported by Ukrinform, the European Union on October 6 approved the eighth package of sanctions against Russia over the attempted illegal annexation of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions of Ukraine.

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