Crisis in Ukraine | The EU endorses sanctions against Russia and calls a summit of heads of state for this Thursday

The Heads of State and Government of the European Union An extraordinary European Council will be held this Thursday to discuss the situation in Ukraine and the crisis caused by Russia. The President of the European Council, Charles Michaelhas announced by surprise the celebration of a emergency summit what will start at 8:00 p.m. and with only one topic on the menu: assessing the latest developments in Ukraine, discussing how to protect a rules-based international order, how to deal with Russia and hold it accountable for its actions, and how to continue to support Ukraine.

“The use of force and coercion to alter borders has no place in the 20th centuryI. The aggressive actions of the Russian Federation violate international law and the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine and also undermine the European security order,” Michel maintains in the invitation letter sent to the rest of the European leaders. The appointment coincides with approval this Wednesdayhe first package of sanctions against Russia for the recognition of the independence of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions.

According to Michel, it is important that the Twenty-seven remain “united” and “jointly define the approach and the actions to be taken.” Hence, the emergency meeting, which the Twenty-seven could take advantage of to probe the appetite among the different European governments to apply the “mass sanctions” package on which Brussels has been working for weeks, in coordination with other Western allies, and which countries like Lithuania urgently demand, without waiting for a possible total invasion of Moscow. In addition to the European leaders, the president of the European Parliament, Roberta Metzolahas also called an extraordinary meeting of the political groups of the European Parliament to analyze the situation.

First sanctions

Both announcements coincide with the approval this Wednesday of the first round of sanctions by the escalation of tensions in eastern Ukraine. Although at the moment they do not point to the Russian president Vladimir Putinthe Twenty-seven have decided to shoot high, in the face of what they consider a “flagrant violation & rdquor; of the territorial integrity of neighboring Ukraine. Besides 351 members of the Russian Duma that last February 15 approved the recognition, in the list of 27 sanctioned individuals and entities are three banks (Rossiya, Promsvyazbank, VEB-bank), various Russian ministers, military commanders, the president’s chief of staff, Antoni Vainoand the director of the Russia Today newspaper among others. With all these names, the list of the EU against Russia already adds 555 individuals and 52 entities.

The Twenty-seven have approved the new round in record time by usual Brussels standards. At the top of the list of people who will be prohibited from entering the EU and their assets frozen in European territory, as confirmed by diplomatic sources, the Russian defense minister, Sergei Shoiguas “ultimately responsible” military action against Ukraine and undermining its territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence. Among the twenty or so sanctioned individuals are also military officials of the Russian ground and air forces, as well as the commander-in-chief of the Russian army, Nikolay Yevmenov.

Stop Russian propaganda

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The European strategy also hits the communication and propaganda apparatus of the Kremlin and for this it sanctions the founder of the Wagner group of mercenaries, Yevgeny Prigozhina businessman very close to Putin, linked to the Internet Research Agency, considered the Russian “trolls” factory, which spreads from St. Petersburg the viral propaganda against the West that feeds the Russian regime. The list is completed by other members of the propaganda apparatus, starting with the foreign ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharovthe editor of the Russia Today newspaper, Margaret Simonianand the presenter of the first public chain Vladimir Solovyov.

The sanctions also include a ban on trade in goods with the non-Ukrainian government-controlled areas of Donetsk and Lugansk, in line with the restrictions applied after the illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014, as well as measures to restrict the capacity of the state and the Russian government to access the financial and capital markets and services of the EU with the aim of preventing them from placing their public debt and thus financing the Russian Federation, its government and its Central Bank.

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