The European Union on Wednesday agreed in principle on a new, 13th, package of sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, days after the death of opposition leader Alexey Navalny in a Russian prison.
The EU aims to vote on the package in time for February 24, which marks the second anniversary of the war, Belgium, which holds the rotating EU presidency, said today.
"This package is one of the broadest approved by the EU. It will undergo a written procedure and be formally approved for the 24 February," the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the EU wrote in a post on X.
The package adds nearly 200 individuals and entities to the sanctions list, but there are no fresh sanctions on specific industries, diplomatic sources in the EU told Reuters on Wednesday.
The newly-sanctioned entities and individuals are evenly split between Russia's military industry and persons involved in kidnapping and trafficking of Ukrainian children, according to Reuters' sources. The 13th package also adds one North Korean and one Belarusian company to the list.
This package is more focused on stricter enforcement of the current sanctions, according to Bloomberg.
"We must keep degrading Putin's war machine," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen wrote on X, commenting on the deal on the 13th package of sanctions.
"With 2000 listings in total, we keep the pressure high on the Kremlin. We are also further cutting Russia's access to drones," von der Leyen said.
The new sanctions were approved days after Navalny, 47, a fierce critic of Putin's regime, died last week in a penal colony in Russia's Arctic Circle.
Ahead of the second anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the United States and the EU, together with partners, discussed last week the potential of slapping "robust" new sanctions on Russia, a senior U.S. official told Reuters.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
Tsvetana is a writer for Oilprice.com with over a decade of experience writing for news outlets such as iNVEZZ and SeeNews. More