EU to Step Up Russia Sanctions but Rifts Grow in the Bloc
BERLIN—The European Union is poised to adopt new sanctions on Russia, even as some member countries are questioning existing restrictions and as the economic pain they are inflicting on EU citizens grows.
The European Commission, the EU’s executive body, is likely as soon as Wednesday to propose new import and export controls on Russia, according to officials involved in the talks, including an import ban on some Russian diamonds. It will also propose placing additional Russian officials and pro-Kremlin separatists on its sanctions list in the coming days, in a modest new package of measures to increase pressure on the Kremlin.
The new package follows Russian President Vladimir Putin’s troop-mobilization call, threats of using nuclear weapons and the latest Russian efforts to annex parts of Ukrainian territory. Discussion over it has brought to the fore growing rifts over sanctions policy within the bloc that are prompting officials in Brussels to tread carefully as they look to punish the Kremlin over its invasion of Ukraine.
Approval looks unlikely before this weekend but will likely come by the time EU leaders meet in Prague next week, the officials said.
New sanctions, which would be the first since July, come as Europe faces the threat of a recession, sparked by Russian energy-supply cuts that have stoked inflation and reduced growth prospects across much of the continent. The winter will be a critical period in the economic war between the West and Moscow. Russia itself faces a significant recession from deepening Western sanctions, which include a ban on sales of microchips and an EU oil embargo due to take effect by year’s end.
EU officials say privately and publicly that the sanctions are inflicting serious damage on Russia’s economy and military, while unified EU action on energy prices and economic assistance will soften the blow of Russia’s energy countermeasures on Europeans.
Ursula von der Leyen’s European Commission is expected as soon as Wednesday to propose new import and export controls on Russia.
Yet the economic blowback in Europe has impeded major new initiatives since the oil embargo was proposed in May and is prompting dissent within the EU. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is ramping up his campaign to unwind the bloc’s economic sanctions, which are up for renewal in January. Others, including Poland and the Baltic states, say that only by ratcheting up economic pressure will Russia’s ability to fund its war be stifled.
The most notable new measure Brussels looks likely to propose is a ban on nonindustrial rough diamond imports from Russia, a major source of supply for Belgium’s lucrative diamond industry, diplomats said.
Belgium imported $1.8 billion in diamonds from Russia in 2021, according to advocacy group Transparency International, part of $4 billion in Russia’s global diamond exports. Belgium’s government has so far protected Antwerp’s diamond industry from the sanctions but diplomats say they are unlikely to block it this time.
The commission is also looking at an import ban on still-unsanctioned Russian steel and related products, as well as restrictions on chemicals and machinery imports, officials said. In terms of exports to Russia, Brussels looks set to propose tighter controls on components potentially used in Russian weaponry, aviation and hydraulics. The trade bans cover several billion euros of products, diplomats say, further depressing dwindling EU-Russia non-energy trade.
There will also be a number of new individual sanctions listings for those organizing or involved in the referendums in Ukraine.
Several member states have asked the commission to consider a new sanctions category for those who assist targeted Russian officials or executives to evade sanctions. Such a measure could be deployed against relatives or close associates of sanctions targets.
It appears unlikely the commission will include in the package an amendment to its oil and insurance ban on Russia. EU officials have said in recent days they need more time to agree to the fix, which would allow to advance an international price cap on Russian oil, pushed by the U.S.
Hungary’s Mr. Orban has been increasingly vocal in his opposition to sanctions. On Monday, he told lawmakers that the bloc’s sanctions had been imposed undemocratically by Brussels bureaucrats and elites. He announced plans for a “national consultation” to see whether people backed the existing sanctions and if they opposed new ones.
Mr. Orban has used national surveys and referendums in the past to buttress his opposition to EU policies, from migration to gay rights.
Earlier this month, Mr. Orban’s diplomats threatened to block the renewal of EU sanctions on hundreds of Russian officials but eventually stepped back, according to several people involved in discussions.
Yet Brussels is coming under pressure to overhaul its sanctions in the opposite direction by others.
In a paper circulated last week, Poland, the three Baltic States and Ireland called for a ban on cooperation with Russia on nuclear energy and the import of liquefied-petroleum-gas products, and a major tightening of technology exports to Russia, including a ban on smartphones, radio transistors and cameras.
They also urged a ban on the sale of real estate to Russian citizens and companies, something Brussels had tried to win backing for in June. In another sign that the sanctions momentum has diminished, EU officials said Cyprus had taken this off the table for the new package.
Write to Laurence Norman at laurence.norman@wsj.com
I'm glad that several small countries in the EU (the three Baltic states and Ireland are able to make their voices heard, but dismayed that one small country (Hungary) could block the will of all the others regarding sanctions. What made Orban change his mind? Perhaps the possibility of expulsion?
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