European Union. Twelfth Package Of Sanctions Against Russia Coming Up

A new package of sanctions against Russia could be announced by the European Union in the first half of October or a little later at the EU-US summit scheduled for the second half of next month (the exact date has not yet been announced). According to the American agency Bloomberg citing “certain well-informed sources,” the 12th package could subject to sanctions the Russian IT sector, Russian exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG), and the country’s nuclear industry.

The introduction of sanctions against the Russian nuclear sector has been proposed several times in Brussels by Poland and the three former Soviet Baltic republics, which in January last year already proposed to include sanctions against the Rosatom nuclear agency and its top managers. Hungary, where Rosatom is building the Paks nuclear power plant, is resisting this radical decision.

Finally, according to Bloomberg, the twelfth package of sanctions may also contain a range of measures aimed at “limiting Russia’s ability to avoid Western sanctions by looking for loopholes in Turkey or the UAE.”

For its part, the Kremlin has extended the embargo on the export of many types of food to Russia from “unfriendly countries” until the end of 2024. “The most famous Italian” victim of the Russian embargo is parmesan. On the other hand, Italian wine that occupies the highest positions in Russia is not affected.

The USA also announced new measures against the Kremlin on September 17: more than 150 companies and individuals were included in the new package of sanctions against Russia by the US State and Treasury Departments. “The purpose of these actions is to limit Russia’s defense production capacity,” said James O’Brien, head of the State Department’s Office of Sanctions Coordination.

But this time, Washington’s axe has also fallen on some Turkish, Finnish, and Russian companies that the US believes are “helping Moscow obtain supplies of American and European electronic components.” A UAE company that “supplies engineering solutions and technologies for the Russian liquefied natural gas project in the Arctic” is also included in the “waiting list” for future American sanctions.