EU Agrees To New Sanctions On Russia Under Pressure From Donald Trump To Negotiate
Donald Trump’s phone call with Vladimir Putin shocked the European Union. The agreement reached by the two ambassadors came days before the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Under pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump to negotiate over the fate of Ukraine, the European Union agreed on Wednesday to impose a new round of sanctions on Russia, raising doubts about the long-term viability of these tough restrictions.
Trump’s Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Europe would eventually be invited to the negotiating table to discuss easing sanctions on the Kremlin.
“Other parties have imposed sanctions, and the EU has to sit down and negotiate at some point because they have imposed sanctions as well,” Rubio said after meeting with Russia’s foreign minister in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.
Rubio stressed that “all parties” had to make concessions. When asked about Europe being excluded from the process, he replied: “No one is marginalized.”
Still, the EU is prepared to maintain its punitive policy, at least for now.
“We are committed to keeping the pressure on the Kremlin going,” said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
The agreement reached by the two ambassadors on Wednesday was timed to mark the third anniversary of the invasion, which the European Commission of Commissioners plans to mark with a joint visit to Kiev. It is the 16th set of restrictions since February 2022.
The new sanctions ban imports of Russian raw aluminum, an idea that has been discussed in the past but never approved as some member states balked at its economic impact.
Russian raw aluminum accounts for about 6% of the EU’s aluminum imports, a share that has fallen in recent years as European manufacturers have gradually turned away from Russian suppliers.
The EU already bans imports of some aluminum products from Russia, such as cables, pipes and hoses, although these products only account for a small part of purchases. The ban has now been extended to raw aluminum, which is sold as ingots, sheets and bars and accounts for the majority of total imports.
In addition to raw materials, the latest sanctions package also expands the blacklist of Russia’s “shadow fleet” tankers. The Kremlin deployed the “shadow fleet” to circumvent Western restrictions on the oil trade and maintain a revenue source that is crucial to financing the war in Ukraine.
The fleet consists of old, uninsured ships that are suspected of engaging in deceptive practices such as transmitting false data, making tankers invisible and conducting multiple ship-to-ship transfers to hide the origin of their barrels.
The condition of the ships is so bad that Brussels is worried that they could cause oil spills and trigger an environmental disaster near EU territory.
Political pressure has reached an unprecedented high after several incidents in the Baltic Sea, where the “shadow fleet” has been accused of sabotaging undersea cables.
The “shadow fleet” is estimated to have about 600 ships, but the official number is not released due to Kremlin secrecy.
China and India are now the main buyers of Russian oil, which is usually refined on their territory and then sold again on the EU market under different names.
According to diplomats, the new round of EU sanctions blacklisted 73 ships suspected of belonging to the “shadow fleet”. Including these ships, the total number reaches more than 150.
They have all been denied access to EU ports and services.
The union’s legal text has been amended to allow for the blacklisting of ship owners and operators, including captains, in the “shadow fleet”.
The new sanctions also include removing 13 Russian banks from the SWIFT electronic system and suspending the broadcasting licenses of eight Russian media outlets.
The decision is expected to be formally adopted when foreign ministers meet in Brussels on Monday.
