EU to impose new sanctions on trade, Iranian entities helping Russia’s army

By Agnes Szucs

BRUSSELS (AA) – EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen announced on Wednesday that the new EU sanctions package against Russia will contain trade bans and sanctions on Iranian entities cooperating with the Russian military.

Von der Leyen talked at the debate marking the first anniversary of Russia’s war in Ukraine at the European Parliament’s plenary session in Strasbourg, France.

“We are proposing a 10th package of measures with new trade bans and technology export controls to Russia,” she told EU lawmakers.

She explained that the new sanctions will cut around €11 billion ($11.8 billion) in revenues “to weaken Russia's ability to maintain its war machine.”

The EU executive body proposes “among other things export restrictions on multiple electronic components used in Russian armed systems, such as drones, missiles, helicopters,” von der Leyen asserted.

She said that the new restrictive measures will also hit “Iranian entities, including those linked to Iran's Revolutionary Guard” because of their “supply of drones and the transfer of know-how to build production sites in Russia.”

EU ambassadors will discuss the details later on Wednesday as the sanctions package has yet to be adopted by EU member states.

In her speech at the European Parliament, von der Leyen also called Russia’s “attempt to blackmail Europe using energy has been an abject failure” and pointed out that “the Kremlin is having to sell gold reserves in order to plug the gaps left by the lack of oil revenue.”

She praised Ukrainians fighting the war and for reforms in the hope to join the EU.

She expressed hope that “one day the representatives of the Ukrainian people will have their place” in the European Parliament. The war-torn country received EU candidate status last June.

Since the beginning of Russia’s war against Ukraine on Feb. 24., 2022, the EU and its member states have provided €50 billion in direct support to Ukraine, including more than €12 billion in military aid.

The EU has imposed nine sanctions packages against Russia, targeting, among others, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, banning gold, oil and coal imports and the export of luxury goods and high-tech technology, as well as excluding Russian and Belarusian banks from the SWIFT international payment system.