According to a draught statement, the European Union will modify its sanctions against Moscow on Wednesday by allowing the unfreezing of some funds from major Russian banks that may be needed to relieve bottlenecks in the international trade of food and fertilisers.
The decision was made in response to African leaders’ condemnation of the sanctions’ detrimental effects on trade, which may have aggravated shortages primarily brought on by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and its blockade of Black Sea ports.
According to the paper, EU countries would be permitted to unfreeze previously frozen economic resources owned by big Russian lenders VTB, Sovcombank, Novikombank, Otkritie FC Bank, VEB, Promsvyazbank, and Bank Rossiya under the revised law, which EU envoys are scheduled to adopt on Wednesday.
Separately, Sberbank, the largest bank in Russia, will have all of its assets frozen under fresh sanctions that will be put in place on Wednesday, with the exception of those essential for the food trade, an EU official told Reuters.
Money might be released “after having concluded that such monies or economic resources are necessary for the purchase, import, or transportation of agricultural and food products, including wheat and fertilisers,” according to the draught paper.
An official stated that as part of the amended sanctions, the EU also intends to make it easier for traders to service Russian ports for the sale of food after EU restrictions, even if the latter explicitly exempted such exports. The EU has so far refuted the idea that its sanctions had an effect on the trade in foods.
Wide-ranging sanctions were put in place on Russia after its invasion of Ukraine on February 24 by the EU, the US, Britain, and other countries. 24. Russia refers to its efforts as a “special military operation” aimed at “denazifying” and disarming Ukraine. Moscow, according to Kyiv and the West, is waging an unjustified war of aggression.
