EU Sanctions against Russia in response to the military aggression against Ukraine

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The EU has imposed three packages of sanctions against Russia in response to the Russian recognition of the non-government controlled areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts of Ukraine and Russian military aggression against Ukraine.

The following infographics provide an overview of the EU sanctions packages.

Specifically, the first package includes:

  • targeted restrictive measures
  • restrictions on economic relations with the non-government controlled areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts
  • financial restrictions

The second package includes:

  • individual sanctions against Vladimir Putin, Sergey Lavrov and the members of the Russian State Duma, among others
  • economic sanctions

With this second package, in addition to the targeted sanctions against the 351 members of the Russian State Duma and an additional 27 individuals, the EU decided to freeze the assets of Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation, and of Sergey Lavrov, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.

In addition, the EU imposed restrictive measures on the members of the National Security Council of the Russian Federation and on the remaining members of the Russian State Duma who supported Russia’s immediate recognition of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk ”republics”.

The third package of EU sanctions against Russia includes:

  • a ban on overflight of EU airspace and on access to EU airports by Russian carriers of all kinds
  • a ban on the transactions with the Russian Central Bank
  • a SWIFT ban for seven Russian banks
  • the suspension of broadcasting in the EU of state-owned media Russia Today and Sputnik
  • individual and economic sanctions against Belarus.

On the SWIFT ban in particular, the EU has excluded seven Russian banks from SWIFT. This will ensure that these banks are disconnected from the international financial system and harm their ability to operate globally. The seven banks are Bank Otkritie, Novikombank, Promsvyazbank, Rossiya Bank, Sovcombank, Vnesheconombank (VEB), and VTB Bank.

The EU has also introduced a ban on:

  • investing, participating or otherwise contributing to future projects co-financed by the Russian Direct Investment Fund
  • selling, supplying, transferring or exporting euro banknotes to Russia or to any natural or legal person or entity in Russia.

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Infographics: © Council of the European Union, 2022.

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