EU will Sanction Russian Companies for First Time Amid Ukrainian Crisis

Europe is about to take a leap forward in the punishment inflicted on Russia by the intervention in the Ukrainian conflict. The representatives of the 28 Member States plan on Monday to include 14 companies blacklisted and sanctioned for the first time. While sanctions still fall within the moderate punishment phase, the decision represents a further step in this strategy of increasing intensity.

That half of new sanctions will join the 48 already on the EU list, and enlarged several times. Russian citizens responsible for violating the territorial integrity of Ukraine, with the annexation of Crimea, their assets in the EU are frozen and are prevented from entering the EU territory. The punishment will also extend to two to five companies located in Crimea, that after the annexation were expropriated by Russia for contributing to the change in status of the region, before Ukrainian territory and now de facto pegged to Russia.

“In my opinion, sanctions come into force on Monday, the latter one tightening sanctions on individuals “, said the head of the European Commission budget. Lewandowski, whose country heads the group advocating punishing Moscow more harshl, said that this round of punishment is still moderate.” The third level is reserved for the case where it is proved without any doubt a Russian intervention in Ukraine,” the commissioner said in an interview in Warsaw.

Other diplomatic sources point out that the situation is changing and although the ambassadors have already adopted this commitment, the decision will be made by the foreign ministers on Monday, based on the events of the weekend. The heads of European diplomacy meeting Monday in Brussels, will take into account what might happen on Sunday called the independence referendum in the Donetsk region, Russian majority.

With this ambiguity, the European Union is to be prepared for any contingency. If Russia just choosing to defuse tension, as suggested by the words of its president, Vladimir Putin, who on Thursday endorsed first presidential elections in Ukraine and asked the separatists to postpone the referendum -, additional sanctions may freeze. If, on the contrary, Putin moderation becomes a false alarm, as has happened in the past, Brussels would go ahead with their plans.

Europe is exploring all options before reaching the dreaded stage of economic sanctions, with unpredictable consequences for the Member States. Europe – Germany – including representatives increasingly take the punishment that Putin will end in such measures if Moscow is closely involved in the affairs Ukrainians. Nevertheless, many states are still reluctant to opt for that degree of hardness.

The EU ambassadors have spent much of the week trying to figure out how to include companies such sanctions for specific individuals. In the initial plan, Europe could only punish people who would attack on the territorial integrity of Ukraine and companies strictly related to those people. Now diplomats have changed the legal basis of this mandate also to penalize companies that consider participants in this strategy without linking them to any penalties.

Thus, Brussels a little closer to its strategy of Washington, who has included nearly 20 companies in the list of sanctioned and prohibited the export of technologies to Russia  that could be used for military purposes. U.S. is lobbying Europe to be more forceful in rebuking Putin.

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Posted by Shakira Subhani on May 12 2014. Filed under Europe. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.