New EU sanctions against Russia hit Wagner Group and Russia’s largest private bank A year of war in Ukraine: a video review

The EU has put its new sanctions against Russia into effect. They entered into force on Saturday evening with their publication in the Official Journal of the European Union. Among other things, the EU has imposed sanctions on 87 other individuals and 34 organizations that the EU believes are contributing in one way or another to Russia’s war against Ukraine. Among them is Alfa-Bank, which is considered Russia’s largest private financial institution.

The bank’s most influential shareholders have been on the EU sanctions list since last year, including the bank’s billionaire founder Mikhail Fridman. In addition, the punitive measures should affect Tinkoff Bank and Rosbank.

The sanctions list also included state secretaries, Russian government officials, those responsible for the deportation and forced adoption of Ukrainian children, and new members of the Council of the Russian Federation. They are all no longer allowed to enter the EU and all assets in the EU are frozen.

1473 people and 205 organizations blacklisted

According to the Council of Member States, the EU has now placed 1,473 individuals and 205 organizations on its sanctions list for undermining or threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine.

Among other sanctions regimes, the EU has now imposed sanctions on eleven other members and seven institutions linked to the Russian mercenary group Wagner. Some of them are accused of serious human rights violations in the Central African Republic and Sudan, others are said to endanger security or stability in Mali. Two people were sanctioned in connection with the war in Ukraine. The sanctions package also includes new export restrictions worth more than 11 billion euros.

The permanent representatives of the EU countries had already agreed on the new sanctions on Friday, the anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It is the tenth package of sanctions since February last year.

Zelenskyj calls new EU sanctions package “powerful”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hailed the sanctions package as an important step. “It is powerful, directed against the military industry and financial sector of the terrorist state and against the propagandists who have drowned Russian society in lies and are trying to spread their lies all over the world,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly video message. “She certainly won’t.” At the same time, the Ukrainian head of state once again called for punitive measures against the Russian nuclear industry.

In the afternoon, Zelenskyy wrote on Twitter that his country, which had been attacked by Russia, expected concrete “decisive steps” against the Russian state-owned company Rosatom and the Russian nuclear industry in general.

(sda/dpa)