EU adopts 14th sanction package against Russia

Brussels: The Council of the European Union (EU) on Monday announced the adoption of the 14th package of economic and individual restrictive measures against Russia.

These measures target high-value sectors of the Russian economy, including energy, finance, and trade, making it more difficult to circumvent EU sanctions, according to a statement released by the Council, Xinhua news agency reported.

The new sanctions include restrictive measures on an additional 116 individuals and entities.

In the energy sector, the EU will forbid reloading services of Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) in EU territory for transhipment operations to third countries and prohibit new investments, as well as the provision of goods, technology, and services for the completion of LNG projects under construction.

For finance, the Council decided to outlaw the use of the System for Transfer of Financial Messages (SPFS), a specialised financial messaging service developed by the Central Bank of Russia, to neutralise the effect of restrictive measures.

EU entities operating outside of Russia will be forbidden from connecting to the SPFS or equivalent specialised financial messaging services, and EU operators will be barred from making transactions with specifically listed entities using SPFS outside of Russia, the statement added.

The EU has widened the flight ban, broadened the prohibition on the transport of goods by road within its territory, and imposed restrictions on the export of goods such as chemicals, including manganese ores and compounds of rare earth, plastics, excavating machinery, monitors, and electrical equipment.

Further restrictions on the import of helium from Russia have also been introduced.