BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union said Friday its latest round of sanctions will hit Russia’s military-industrial complex, as well as people and groups that are attacking Ukrainian civilians or kidnapping children.
Valdis Dombrovskis, a European Commission vice-president, said the package will deal a blow to 168 “entities” — companies or state organizations — as well as some two dozen individuals.
The ninth package of EU punitive measures against Russia for its war in Ukraine was approved by EU leaders at a summit Thursday. It was formally adopted Friday by written procedure.
European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said the package also focuses “on tech, finance and media to push the Russian economy and war machine further off the rails.”
Von der Leyen added that the new sanctions target “almost 200 individuals and entities involved in attacks on civilians and kidnapping children.” Russia’s open effort to adopt Ukrainian children and bring them up as Russian is already well underway, in one of the most explosive issues of the war, an Associated Press investigation has showed.
Full details of the package will be revealed once they are published in the bloc’s legal records.
The targets of the latest recommended sanctions included government ministers, lawmakers, regional governors and political parties. The EU Commission also wanted to hit more Russian banks and to impose export controls and restrictions on products like chemicals, nerve agents, electronics and IT components that could be used by the armed forces.
Von der Leyen also proposed “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.”
In addition, the European Commission recommended that EU members take action against Russia’s energy and mining sectors, including with a ban on new mining investments, and that they move to take more Russian TV stations off the air in Europe.
As well as sanctions on various entities, banks and individuals, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and members of his family, the EU has previously approved an embargo on coal and seaborne oil imports, in close concert with Western allies.
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