Russian President Vladimir Putin has been dealt a double blow after the European Union Council adopted a 12th sanctions package against Russia this week and it was reported that sanctions imposed on Russia in response to Putin’s war in Ukraine will not be lifted after the conflict ends.
The new sanctions package, announced on Monday, includes a ban on the import, purchase, or transfer of diamonds from Russia beginning on January 1, 2024, and tightens the enforcement of a Western price cap on Russian oil, at $60 a barrel.
A total of 61 people and 86 organizations were also sanctioned on Monday, according to a list published by the European Commission, including Putin’s cousin, Anna Tsivileva, and the son of former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Ilya Medvedev.
Tsivileva chairs the “defenders of the fatherland” foundation that supports Russian soldiers participating in Putin’s ongoing war in Ukraine, while Ilya Medvedev is accused of “creating digital services in the illegally occupied Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.”
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The sanctions package targets 14 members of the Central Election Commission of Russia.
Newsweek reached out to Russia’s Foreign Ministry via email for comment.
In a further blow, Russian state-run news agency Tass cited a diplomatic source in the EU as saying that sanctions imposed on Russia in response to Putin’s war in Ukraine will not be lifted after the conflict ends.
“We need to be aware that sanctions will not be lifted after the end of hostilities in Ukraine. Even if the lifting of sanctions becomes some kind of part of a ceasefire agreement or a condition of signing a peace agreement, which sooner or later must end the conflict, it will likely be very difficult to fulfill this obligation,” the unidentified source said.
“The problem lies in the very procedure for making sanction decisions. Both for the introduction of sanctions and for absolutely any decision to lift them or even ease [the restriction regime] a unanimous decision must be taken in the EU Council,” the source continued.
“It is enough that one of the 27 EU countries does not support the lifting of sanctions under any pretext, and this issue can be postponed for an unlimited amount of time. Especially if there is moral support for this from the EU institutions,” they said.
Newsweek has contacted the European Council for comment via email.
The European Council said its latest sanctions package delivers “a further blow to Putin’s ability to wage war by targeting high-value sectors of the Russian economy and making it more difficult to circumvent EU sanctions.”
“With this 12th package, we are putting forward a robust set of new listings and economic measures which will further weaken Russia’s war machine,” Josep Borrell, High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, said in a statement.
“Our message is clear, as I already stated when I chaired the informal Foreign Affairs Council in Kyiv: we remain steadfast in our commitment to Ukraine and will continue to support its fight for freedom and sovereignty,” Borrell added.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
