Sanctions to Russia: European Union ports ban Russian ships

21/04/2022

In order to punish Russia for the attack on Ukraine, the European Commission (EC) announced that Russian ships and ships operated by Russia were banned from accessing European Union (EU) ports.

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The EC said there would be "several exemptions" covering essential items such as agricultural products, food, humanitarian aid and energy.

In addition, the EC will propose a ban on trucking operators of Russia and Belarus. “This ban will significantly limit the options for Russian industry to obtain key commodities,” the European Commission said.

The ban on Russian and Russian-operated ships from EU ports is one of the six pillars of a fifth package of sanctions aimed at Russia over Putin's attack on Ukraine.
“The four packages of sanctions have severely impacted and limited the Kremlin's political and economic options,” said Ms. von der Leyen, President of the European Commission. We are seeing clear results. But obviously, given the events, we need to increase the pressure even more. Today, we are proposing to implement our sanctions. We will make them wider and sharper, so that they penetrate deeper into the Russian economy.”

The EC's fifth package of sanctions also includes a ban on coal imports from Russia worth 4 billion euros ($4.3 billion) a year, a full trading ban on four key Russian banks, orders further targeted export ban and new specific import ban worth 5.5 billion euros ($5.9 billion).

Ms. von der Leyen added: “We are working on additional sanctions, including on oil imports, and we are reflecting on some of the ideas presented by Member States, such as: taxes or specific payment channels such as escrow accounts.”

We can see, Europe is actively stepping up sanctions against Russia. So how will the Russia-Ukraine war continue to evolve? Follow PPL to stay up to date with the latest news!