The EU formally adopted broad economic sanctions against Russia on Thursday, hoping the move will force Moscow to reverse course on the Ukraine crisis.
The sanctions were published in the EU’s Official Journal late in the day, meaning that they were to take effect yesterday.
The measures, finally agreed upon earlier this week after months of hesitation, target Russia’s banking, defense and energy sectors in view of what the EU called “actions destabilizing the situation in eastern Ukraine,” a statement said.
A first step limits access by Russian state-owned banks to Europe’s financial markets, chief among them London, which is to increase their cost of doing business. Five banks were named: Sberbank, VTB, Gazprombank, VEB and Rosselkhozbank.
EU nationals and companies are no longer to be allowed to buy or sell new bonds, stocks or other debt instruments with a maturity of more than 90 days issued by such banks, the statement said.
Sales of arms and dual-use technology are banned, along with sensitive technologies in the oil sector, but Europe has balked at applying sanctions to Russia’s gas industry, which supplies about a third of the EU’s needs.
Analysts say the oil sector ban could cause problems for Russia, which relies on advanced Western drilling technology.
“The measures will apply to new contracts,” the statement said, meaning current deals and activities are not covered.
Ratings agency Moody’s said the sanctions would not cause an immediate liquidity crisis, as Russian companies and banks have sizeable cash and financial buffers.
However, it said the measures can be expected to worsen a “gradual downward trend in the country’s growth potential.”
“The sanctions add to factors already weighing on Russia’s economy and financial system that have been exacerbated by the conflict in Ukraine,” Moody’s said.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un sent Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) greetings with what appeared to be restrained rhetoric that comes as Pyongyang moves closer to Russia and depends less on its long-time Asian ally. Kim wished “the Chinese people greater success in building a modern socialist country,” in a reply message to Xi for his congratulations on North Korea’s birthday, the state-run Korean Central News Agency reported yesterday. The 190-word dispatch had little of the florid language that had been a staple of their correspondence, which has declined significantly this year, an analysis by Seoul-based specialist service NK Pro showed. It said
On an island of windswept tundra in the Bering Sea, hundreds of miles from mainland Alaska, a resident sitting outside their home saw — well, did they see it? They were pretty sure they saw it — a rat. The purported sighting would not have gotten attention in many places around the world, but it caused a stir on Saint Paul Island, which is part of the Pribilof Islands, a birding haven sometimes called the “Galapagos of the north” for its diversity of life. That is because rats that stow away on vessels can quickly populate and overrun remote islands, devastating bird
‘CLOSER TO THE END’: The Ukrainian leader said in an interview that only from a ‘strong position’ can Ukraine push Russian President Vladimir Putin ‘to stop the war’ Decisive actions by the US now could hasten the end of the Russian war against Ukraine next year, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday after telling ABC News that his nation was “closer to the end of the war.” “Now, at the end of the year, we have a real opportunity to strengthen cooperation between Ukraine and the United States,” Zelenskiy said in a post on Telegram after meeting with a bipartisan delegation from the US Congress. “Decisive action now could hasten the just end of Russian aggression against Ukraine next year,” he wrote. Zelenskiy is in the US for the UN
A 64-year-old US woman took her own life inside a controversial suicide capsule at a Swiss woodland retreat, with Swiss police on Tuesday saying several people had been arrested. The space-age looking Sarco capsule, which fills with nitrogen and causes death by hypoxia, was used on Monday outside a village near the German border. The portable human-sized pod, self-operated by a button inside, has raised a host of legal and ethical questions in Switzerland. Active euthanasia is banned in the country, but assisted dying has been legal for decades. On the same day it was used, Swiss Department of Home