The European Union (EU) officially adopted, on Friday 8 April, its fifth set of sanctions against Russia, which notably provides for an embargo on imports of coal, wood, chemicals and other products. .

These new sanctions will also prevent many Russian ships and trucks from entering the EU and will prohibit any transactions with four Russian banks, including VTB.

The embargo on coal imports will be fully effective from the second week of August and no new contracts can be signed from Friday, when the sanctions will be published in the EU's official journal.

Current contracts will have to be terminated by the second week of August, which means that Russia can continue to receive payments from the EU for its coal exports until then.

The ban on Russian coal, a loss of 8 billion euros per year

"These latest sanctions were adopted following the atrocities committed by the Russian armed forces in Boutcha and other places under Russian occupation," said the EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, in a press release.

According to the Kremlin, Western accusations that Russian forces committed war crimes by executing civilians in Boutcha are a "monstrous falsification" aimed at denigrating the Russian military.

The Commission estimates that the ban on Russian coal alone represents a loss of revenue of 8 billion euros per year for Russia.

In addition to coal, the new EU sanctions prohibit imports of many other goods and products from Russia, including timber, cement, fertilizers, seafood and alcohol, with an estimated total value of 5 .5 billion euros per year.

The EU has also restricted the export to Russia of a number of products, including kerosene, quantum computers, advanced semiconductors, high-end electronics, software, sensitive machinery and equipment. transport, for a total value of 10 billion euros per year.

In total, more than 29.5 billion euros in frozen assets

As part of the sanctions adopted against the war in Ukraine, EU countries have already frozen at least 29.5 billion euros of Russian and Belarusian assets, according to a still partial count announced by the European Commission.

These assets include boats, helicopters, real estate, works of art for nearly 6.7 billion euros.

This assessment "is still ongoing", the Commission said in a statement.

Brussels has asked member states to share their information and, so far, "more than half of them" have communicated the results of their measures.

EU Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders urged "all Member States to take all necessary measures to apply the sanctions and those who have not yet done so to report to the Commission without delay".

"Adopting sanctions is not enough. It is also important to put them into practice and monitor our progress," he said, quoted in the statement.

With AFP

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