The ambassadors of the EU member states failed to approve the tenth package of sanctions against Russia at the first discussion. The controversy arose because of the European Commissionʼs proposal to ban the purchase of Russian rubber.
Politico writes about it.
According to trade data, the synthetic rubber industry brings Russia billions of dollars in revenue every year. For example, in 2021, it exported synthetic rubber worth almost $2 billion. From this amount, the EU bought about $700 million worth of rubber. Some types of rubber were already banned in previous packages.
Synthetic rubber is used in tires and in smaller amounts for clutches and the like. Countries such as Italy and Germany are skeptical of banning the product, while Poland supports it.
Instead, the European Commission did not include sanctions against the UAE company Sun Ship in this package. It was to her that the Russian state shipping company Sovcomflot allegedly handed over 92 of its tankers to circumvent sanctions. At the ambassadorsʼ meeting, none of the countries opposed sanctions against the company — and they were surprised that the EC did not propose restrictions against Sun Ship.
- On February 15, the head of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen presented the official proposal for the tenth package of sanctions against Russia. The European Commission is proposing further export bans that will cost more than €11 billion and deprive the Russian economy of critical technologies and industrial products. We are talking about goods that Russia will not be able to get from other countries: electronics, special transport vehicles, car parts, spare parts for trucks and airplanes, goods for the construction sector that can be used by the Russian military.
- The publication Bloomberg wrote that the European Union 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.