Bloomberg: The EU plans to impose sanctions against the Russian state reserve — the National Welfare Fund

The European Union (EU) is considering the possibility of introducing sanctions against the Russian National Welfare Fund. They also want to oblige banks to disclose more information about frozen Russian assets.

Bloomberg writes about it.

The European Commission has proposed strengthening reporting obligations on frozen assets related to Russian companies and individuals under sanctions. Failure to provide the necessary information may result in a fine of up to €50 000 for individuals and up to 10% of annual turnover for enterprises.

Russiaʼs Rosbank and Tinkoff Bank may also be subject to sanctions. In addition, the EU wants to introduce restrictions against the National Welfare Fund. This is a special Russian state reserve, where money was accumulated from the sale of energy resources.

• In the new package of sanctions, Ukraine insists on a full energy embargo, an extension of the oil embargo on the northern branch of the Druzhba gas pipeline, and a ban on the import of liquefied gas from Russia. Ukraine also calls for the introduction of sanctions against Rosatom, the suspension of Russiaʼs rights in the IAEA, and a complete ban on Russian propaganda in EU countries.
• At the same time, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said that his country will block any EU sanctions against Russian nuclear energy.
• On February 13, it became known that the European Union presented preliminary plans for the tenth package of sanctions against Russia. There they want to introduce restrictions against four more Russian banks and a ban on the participation of Russian citizens in the boards of directors of critical infrastructure companies in the EU. They plan to expand personal sanctions as well — they want to add almost 130 people and companies to the list. These are mainly Russian military personnel, collaborators, propagandists, as well as people and companies associated with the PMC "Wagner".