“We will have a presentation and first exchange of views among EU ambassadors (Coreper) still tonight,” said Ignacy Niemczycki, Polish Secretary of State for European Affairs, one of the top officials coordinating Warsaw’s six-month rotating presidency. “I am optimistic we can succeed.”
Von der Leyen also said that a ban on imports of Russian crude oil would be extended to cover oil products refined from it in third countries — preventing what she called imports “through the back door.” And the EU will now consider another 77 vessels to be part of Russia’s “shadow fleet” that is barred from entering European ports.
The Commission is also proposing to sanction the Russian Direct Investment Fund, Moscow’s sovereign wealth fund, to prevent it from funding projects to “modernize the Russian economy,” von der Leyen said.
A €2.5 billion export ban will apply to machinery, metals, plastics and chemicals that are used as industrial raw materials. It will also cover so-called dual-use technology need to make drones, missiles and other weapons system. This would ensure that “Russia does not find ways to modernize its weapons with European technologies,” she added.
Challenged by a reporter on whether EU sanctions had been effective, von der Leyen said that Russia had earned €12 billion a month from energy exports to Europe before President Vladimir Putin ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Those revenues have fallen to €1.8 billion per month.
Von der Leyen said the latest, 18th package of EU sanctions against Russia would be “aligned” with further measures being discussed in the United States. U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham recently toured Europe to pitch a proposal to hit countries that buy Russian fossil fuels with a 500 percent tariff — although the White House has yet to back it.
Gabriel Gavin in Gdańsk contributed reporting.