EU approves tenth round of sanctions against Russia for the first year since the invasion of Ukraine

By Gabriela Baczynska

BRUSELAS, Feb 24 (Reuters) – Tras frenéticas negotiations hasta el último momento, the Unión Europea approved a decimo package of sanctions in Russia in el día en que se cumplió el primer año desde la invasion a Ucrania, dijo la presidencia sueca de la UE Friday night.

“Together, EU member states have imposed the strongest and most extensive sanctions ever to help Ukraine win the war,” the presidency announced on Twitter.

“The EU is united around Ukraine and the Ukrainian people. We will continue to support them for as long as necessary.”

The package includes tougher export restrictions on dual-use goods, as well as crackdowns on entities that support war, spread propaganda or deliver drones used by Russia.

With two hours to go midnight, EU member states crossed the finish line with little time to spare, after Poland threw a wrench in the negotiations.

Warsaw said proposed restrictions on European imports of Russian rubber included such a large share of exempt imports and such long transition periods that they would have no effect in practice.

Other EU countries were puzzled that Warsaw, one of Russia’s main critics in the bloc, risked no new sanctions being announced in the first year since the attack on Moscow against Ukraine on just one aspect of the package.

“It’s a very bad optic. What was supposed to be key here is a message of solidarity with Ukraine on this special day,” said a diplomat involved in the confidential negotiations between the 27 countries of the EU in Brussels.

All member states must approve the sanctions for them to be adopted, making talks between the 27 often tedious and time-consuming.

The EU said the 10th round of sanctions against Russia since the start of the war was aimed at making it more difficult to finance the war and depriving the country of technological equipment and spare parts for weapons used against the ‘Ukraine.

Las medidas también estaban destinadas a incluir en la lista negra a más personas, entre ellas a figuras que Occidente considered como propagandistas rusos ya quienes Kiev señala como responsible for the deportation of niños ucranianos a Rusia ya los involucrados en la producción de drones iraníes desplegados en forehead.

(Report by Gabriela Baczynska and Sabine Siebold. Editing in Spanish by Marion Giraldo)