War in Ukraine. New sanctions against Russia from the EU Commission

The EU Commission has adopted the 19th sanctions package against Russia. This was announced by EU Commission spokeswoman Paula Pinho, explaining that the package will be presented to the press by Ursula von der Leyen and Kaja Kallas in the coming hours. The new package also intends to hit the national credit card system developed by Russia (Mir) as well as the fast payment system (Sbp). In addition, for the finance part, a total ban on transactions on cryptocurrency trading platforms and cryptocurrencies, restrictions on the provision of crypto-asset services and the issuance of e-money to Russian citizens, and a total ban on transactions on further banks in Russia and third countries (Kazakhstan, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan).

The EU countries that still import Russian gas, according to the latest information in the possession of the European Commission, via pipeline and LNG carriers are: Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Slovakia and Hungary. This was indicated by EU executive spokeswoman Anna-Kaisa Itkonen, without however specifying the incoming volumes and indicating that Brussels has "no official information on where this gas is headed" once it has entered the EU borders. "The time has come to turn off the gas taps from Russia", said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. "Threats to the EU are growing, drones have violated the airspace of Poland and Romania: these are not the actions of those who want peace and the EU increases the pressure."

For Ukraine, "the Commission proposes a repair loan: to provide a loan to Ukraine using the liquid stocks of immobilised Russian assets without touching Russian ownership of those assets," EU Economy Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis told the informal Ecofin. "The reparations loan provides exactly for using the stocks linked to immobilised Russian assets to provide this loan to Ukraine, and Ukraine will have to start repaying it only when Russia pays the war reparations. It has already been agreed at the G7 and European Council level. We are making it operational."

He is echoed by German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil: 'We have already made it clear in the coalition agreement that we are ready to discuss, despite all legal difficulties, how frozen Russian assets can be used more intensively to support Ukraine. We want to assume our responsibility towards Kiev and not adopt a blocking attitude, but everything must be carefully examined. We await the Commission's proposals in concrete terms and then we will enter the discussion with the aim of seeing what can be made possible, not what must be prevented,' he added.

'We carefully evaluate the European proposal, well aware of the legal limits. We have been protagonists of the Era Loans and are therefore well aware of the legal and reputational limits of the affair,' Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti said in a note on the proposal that the European Commission is preparing: a loan to Ukraine based on cash flows from assets frozen at the Russian Central Bank.