European Union bans Russian coal and plans new military aid

These new measures were proposed by the European Commission after the discovery of dozens of corpses of civilians last weekend in Boutcha.

Article written by

Posted

Reading time : 1 min.

This is the first time the Europeans have hit the Russian energy sector. The representatives of the Twenty-Seven decided, Thursday, April 7, an embargo on Russian coal and the closure of European ports to Russian ships, as part of a fifth salvo of sanctions against Moscow, announced the French presidency of the Council of the European Union.

At the same time, the EU has offered to increase funding to provide arms to Ukraine by 500 million euros, which would be increased to a total of 1.5 billion since the start of the Russian invasion. on February 24 when Westerners expect an offensive on eastern Ukraine.

This sum is used to reimburse the supplies of armaments deducted by the Member States from their stocks. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on Thursday urged the Allies to supply his country with more weapons “now” to repel the Russian army.

The packet “very substantial” sanctions also provides for the ban on exports to Russia, in particular of high-tech goods, up to 10 billion euros, and the freezing of the assets of several Russian banks.

These new measures were proposed by the European Commission after the discovery of dozens of corpses of civilians last weekend in Boutcha, near kyiv, which sparked a global shock wave and accusations of “war crimes” against Moscow .

The EU imports 45% of its coal from Russia for a value of 4 billion euros per year. This embargo will come into force at the beginning of August, 120 days after the publication of the new package in the EU’s official journal expected on Friday.


source site-33