European Union member states have agreed on a fresh round of sanctions against Russia, according to the Czech Presidency of the EU Council.
“Ambassadors reached a political agreement on new sanctions against Russia — a strong EU response to Putin’s illegal annexation of Ukrainian territories,” the Czech Presidency tweeted Wednesday.
The eighth package of sanctions against Russia — which was proposed by the European Commission last week — will include an oil price cap, among other measures.
The package will include prohibition of maritime transport of Russian oil to third countries above the oil price cap, an extended import ban on goods and a ban on providing IT, engineering and legal services to Russian entities, the presidency added.
It will also include new criteria for sanctions circumvention.
“Ambassadors have been working hard on this. Last night they were working, and the committee continued this morning,” the bloc’s top diplomat Josep Borrell said at the EU Parliament earlier Wednesday.
The package is expected to be published later today.
The agreement follows a proposal from the European Commission last week, ahead of Moscow’s illegal annexation of four regions in Ukraine.
Other Western allies have also leveled new sanctions against Russia in the wake of Putin’s announcement.
The White House announced it was imposing “swift and severe costs” on Russia on Friday, including sanctions against the head of Russia’s central bank, Elvira Nabiullina, a figure the Biden administration said is key to the country’s economy.
The UK has unveiled new bans on exports of goods and services to Russia. On Tuesday, it also added Sergei Vladimirovich Yeliseyev, the deputy prime minister of the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad and the head of Moscow-backed authorities in Kherson, to its list of sanctioned individuals.
