EU foreign ministers met remotely on Sunday evening to discuss tightening sanctions and support for Ukraine. According to Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto, the meeting was unanimous in all its decisions.
EU foreign ministers discussed the third set of sanctions against Russia in a week, as well as support for Ukraine in the wake of the war, in an informal video conference on Sunday evening. Various sanctions on Russia have been added, and those already decided have been refined several times during the week.
The effects of the new and old sanctions will be felt financially both in Russia and in other countries next week.
Also President of the EU Commission Ursula von der Leyen told earlier today about other blackmail on Russia. We compiled the latest sanctions decisions into a list.
You can watch Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto’s information about the meeting in the video on the spot or via Areena.
1. The EU supports arms exports to Ukraine
At the meeting, the foreign ministers agreed that the EU peace fund would support Ukraine in armed and material support, for example in terms of fuel. The Peace Facility is a financial instrument outside the EU budget.
One of the biggest issues on the meeting’s agenda was supporting Ukraine with weapons. High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell proposed before the meeting that the EU would finance arms exports to Ukraine through the EU Peace Facility.
However, the Sunday meeting did not yet decide what kind of weapons will be bought for Ukraine with the money from the peace fund, Haavisto said.
Now the situation is that individual Member States have decided to export or donate arms to Ukraine. Finland, on the other hand, has not decided to export arms to Ukraine. According to Haavisto, Finland’s defense is based on a reserve and weapons depots, which is why it is necessary to consider how much weapons can be handed over at all.
2. The EU closes its airspace to the Russians
The closure of airspace throughout the European Union is progressing and a formal decision is still being made. The airspace is scheduled to be officially closed to the Russians next week.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced earlier today that the entire EU will close its airspace to Russians, Reuters and AFP news agencies reported. The airspace will also be closed to Russian private planes.
Other traffic from Russia is not yet restricted, and trains, for example, still run normally between Finland and Russia. The block only applies to the airspace. Ordinary citizens are also not subject to sanctions, as there is no general travel restriction for all Russians.
The EU will discuss in the near future how airlines can be supported due to flight cancellations, Haavisto says. For Finnair, for example, the closure of Russian airspace means the cancellation of virtually all Asian flights.
3. Sanctions against Russian oligarchs
EU sanctions are increasingly being targeted at oligarchs, ie very wealthy businessmen who are supporting the Russian government with private money.
The list of personal sanctions has been expanded. Earlier this week, the list of persons was subject to administrative authorities and, for example, members of the State Duma who voted in favor of recognizing the separatist regions of eastern Ukraine.
4. The Russian Central Bank is subject to restrictions
In addition to the freezing of the central bank’s foreign assets, individual Russian banks will be excluded from the international Swift system.
Yesterday, von der Leyen announced that Russian banks would be excluded from the international Swift payment system, which handles money transactions between banks in different countries. In addition, the EU, the United States and Britain announced yesterday that the Russian president Vladimir Putin and the Secretary of State Sergei Lavrovin funds are frozen in foreign banks.
However, Russia will not be completely excluded from the Swift system. For example, Russia’s energy exports are still operating normally, and natural gas is being exported from Russia to Central Europe as before, Haavisto commented in the question section after the press conference.
5. New bans on Russian media
Von der Leyen also announced bans on Russian media.
According to Von der Leyen, Russia State-owned Russia Today and Sputnik and their subsidiaries “can no longer spread lies that justify Putin’s war and saw a split in our union,” Reuters reported.
Von der Leyen added that the EU also intends to take the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko as this supports Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“We will hit Lukashenko’s regime with a new sanctions package,” he told AP.
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