The Council of the European Union on July 31 announced its final approval of the economic sanctions against Russia, which will go into effect on Aug. 1.
“The Council today adopted EU restrictive measures in view of
Russia’s actions destabilizing the situation in eastern Ukraine. This
decision gives legal value to an agreement reached at the Committee of
Permanent Representatives on July 29,” the Council of the
European Union said in a communique.
The document states that the documents on the sanctions will be
published in the EU Official Journal later on Thursday and go into
effect on Friday, Aug.1.
The Council of the European Union said in its communique the
sanctions will restrict Russia’s access to the EU capital markets and EU
citizens and companies will no longer be able to buy or sell bonds,
shares and new similar financial instruments issued by large Russia
state banks, development banks, their branches or establishments acting
on their behalf whose period exceeds ninety days.
The sanctions also prohibit services involving such financial instruments.
The sanctions impose an embargo on the import and export of weapons
and materials associated with them from or to Russia. This applies to
all objects included in the unified list of EU military equipment.
The sanctions prohibit the export of dual-purpose goods and
technologies that can be used for military purposes in Russia. This
applies to the list of such goods and technologies of the EU.
The export to Russia of some types of equipment and technologies
relating to the energy sector will require he approval of the relevant
authorities of the EU countries.
The sanctions will prohibit the issuance of licenses to products
intended for use in deep-water oil extraction and oil extraction in the
Arctic, and also shale gas extraction in Russia.
These measures apply to new contracts, the communique says.
On July 30, the Council of the European Union approved and put in
place restrictions on trade and investment in Crimea and Sevastopol due
to their inclusion into Russia.
These restrictions include a ban on new investment in Crimea and
Sevastopol in the transport infrastructure, telecommunications, the
energy sector, and oil, gas and mineral resources extraction.
The sanctions also prohibit the supply of key equipment for these industries and the provision of insurance services.
A long list of mineral resources affected by the ban (which includes 200 names) is attached to the decision.
The decision on sanctions against Russia was made by the Council of the European Union on Wednesday.
