The EU adopted a 10th package of sanctions against Russia on Saturday 25 February (link to Commission press release).
The most important one (including new export bans on several products of relevance for our industries) is the “Council Regulation (EU) 2023/427 of 25 February 2023 amending Regulation (EU) No 833/2014 concerning restrictive measures in view of Russia’s actions destabilising the situation in Ukraine”, i.e. the second one listed in the table of contents on the first page (you can click on the title and you will be brought directly to the full text of the Regulation).
Please find the key highlights of the 10th package below:
1. Export bans on hundreds of products which can be redirected to Russian war efforts, including:
o Vehicles, such as heavy trucks not yet banned (and their spare parts), semi-trailers, and special vehicles such as snowmobiles;
o Goods easily directed to the Russian military, including, for example, electric generators, binoculars, antennas, radars, compass;
o Construction goods such as bridges, structures for buildings tower-like, fork-lifts trucks, cranes; goods that are critical for the functioning and enhancement of Russian industrial capacity (electronics, machine parts, pumps, machinery for working metals, etc.);
o Complete industrial plants, equipment for production of electronics, machinery for processing materials, crystal pullers, furnaces, machine tools, electrodes and software.
o Goods used in the aviation industry (for instance, turbojets and turbo propellers).
2. Export bans and restrictions on sensitive dual use and advanced technologies, including:
o Additional electronic components used in Russian weapons systems (drones, missiles, helicopters, other vehicles), as well as bans on specific rare earths and thermal cameras with military applications
o Products, such as cells, software, optics, laser, semiconductors or integrated circuits, among other products.
o 96 additional entities associated to Russia’s military-industrial complex have been added to the list of military end-users. This also includes, for the first time, seven Iranian entities that have been using EU components and providing Russia with military “Shahed” drones to attack civilian infrastructure in Ukraine.
3. Additional import bans. The regulation imposes a ban on imports of:
o bitumen and related materials like asphalt
o synthetic rubber and carbon blacks (Annex VI).
- Financial sector. Three Russian banks (Tinkoff Bank, Alfa Bank and Rosbank) have been added to the list of entities subject to the asset freeze and the prohibition to make funds and economic resources available.
- Additional measures of different nature. Additional measures include a ban on Russian nationals from serving on governing bodies of Member States’ critical infrastructure companies; the prohibition on Russian nationals and entities to book gas storage capacity in the Union (LNG excluded) and measures to facilitate the divestment from Russia by EU operators. A third country shipping company, suspected of helping Russia circumvent sanctions on oil exports, has also been listed. Private flights between the EU and Russia, directly or via third countries, should be notified in advance and the prohibition to transit dual use goods and firearms via the territory of Russia to third countries.
- Enforcement and anti-circumvention measures. The new package of sanctions imposes new reporting obligations on Russian Bank assets. This is especially important regarding the possible use of public Russian assets to fund the reconstruction of Ukraine after Russia is defeated. Other measures include reporting obligations on frozen assets (including for dealings before listings) and assets which should be frozen.
- Additional listings of Individuals and entities. Restrictions have been imposed on an additional 87 individuals and 34 entities. Important economic entities have been targeted, such as Alfa-Bank, Rosbank, Tinkoff Bank, the National Wealth Fund of the Russian Federation and the Russian National Reinsurance Company. At the political level, the sanctions affect new members of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation since 20 December 2022, 19 Deputy Ministers and several Russian Government officials, including Heads of federal agencies, 4 Deputies of the State Duma, the All-Russia People’s Front and 5 individuals related to it. Restrictions have also been extended to Russian military leaders and two members of the Wagner Group; to proxy authorities of the illegally annexed regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia and the so-called Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Donetsk Peoples Republic; to individuals responsible for the deportation and forced adoption of Ukrainian children as well as organizations, writers and reporter of the Russian media and propaganda machine. Finally, in the category of sanctioned people are also four Iranian individuals involved in the elaboration and supply of drones used by Russia against Ukraine. The designated individuals and entities are subject to an asset freeze and EU citizens and companies are forbidden from making funds available to them. Natural persons are additionally subject to a travel ban, which prevents them from entering or transiting through EU territories.
- Additional bans on Russian disinformation outlets. Two additional Russian media outlets (RT Arabic and Sputnik Arabic) have been added to the media ban (Annex V).