EU – Adoption of an 8th package of sanctions against those responsible for the Russian aggression in Ukraine (Oct. 6, 2022)

On September 30, France and its European partners condemned the Russian authorities’ announcement of the illegal annexation of the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, and parts of the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions in the strongest possible terms, and announced that new sanctions would soon follow.
Today, the Council of the European Union adopted an eighth package of sanctions against Russia and those responsible for the Russian aggression in Ukraine and these illegal annexations:

• these latest sanctions will target the organizers of illegal referendums, military leaders and propagandists.
• new sectoral sanctions will ban the import of certain Russian products into the EU, including €7 billion worth of steel and chemicals. They will also prohibit the delivery of certain services (in the areas of architecture, engineering, IT consultancy, legal advisory) as well as EU exports to Russia of products that play a strategic role in Russian industry and especially defense, such as electronic components, aviation parts and coal.
• for the first time, they introduce the possibility of targeting individuals and entities who facilitate the circumvention of sanctions.

A mechanism was introduced to cap Russian oil prices. It supplements the ban on Russian oil imports into the EU adopted in June.

These important measures illustrate the EU’s strength, responsiveness and unity in the face of Russia’s ongoing escalation in its war of aggression against Ukraine.