Ukraine: EU imposes new sanctions against Russia, including a coal embargo

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen talks with European Foreign Minister Josep Borrell before the end of negotiations on EU sanctions against Russia, April 6, 2022. AFP - FREDERICK FLORIN

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After almost a week of talks, the 27 EU member states have agreed on a fifth round of sanctions against Russia.

For the first time, the EU is attacking the Russian energy sector by deciding on an embargo on Russian coal.

A package of sanctions fairly consistent with what had been proposed by the European Commission. 

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The 27 Member States agreed on Thursday April 7 on a single embargo on Russian coal, but not on oil or gas.

Russian coal accounts for 45% of EU imports.

It is a check of 4 billion euros per year which will no longer return to the Russian coffers, according to the European Commission.

The time to break the contracts, on a legal basis, this embargo will come into force at the beginning of next August.

Beyond the energy sector, this package of sanctions also targets transport.

Russian vessels are now prohibited from entering EU ports.

As for Russian and Belarusian road hauliers, they will no longer be able to drive on European roads, explains

.

To hit and undermine Russian industry a little more, it will also be impossible to export high-tech goods to Russia, semi-conductors for example, this represents an amount of 10 billion euros.

At the same time, the assets of several new Russian banks will be frozen.

And finally, the EU blacklist of Russian personalities is growing by more than 200 names of individuals, including oligarchs and

, and 18 entities.

Persons and entities on the European blacklist are sanctioned by a ban on entry into the EU and a freezing of their assets.

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 euros 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This sum is used to reimburse the supplies of armaments withdrawn by the Member States from their stocks.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on Thursday urged Western allies to supply his country with more weapons " 

" to repel the Russian army.

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• Ukraine

• European Union

• Russia