EU agrees new sanctions on Russia, blacklisting companies in mainland China for the first time
The European Union agreed on Wednesday to slap Russia with a new round of sanctions, which for the first time target companies in mainland China suspected of helping the Kremlin get hold of forbidden items.
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00:00 Only days after the death of Alexei Navalny, EU member states have agreed on a 13th package
00:06 of sanctions against Russia, including companies from Turkey, North Korea and China accused
00:11 of providing Russia with advanced technology and military goods manufactured in the EU.
00:16 We must keep degrading Putin's war machine, says the European Commission President Ursula
00:20 von der Leyen. For Brando Benefe, a socialist member of the European Parliament, sending
00:25 a political message to Russia is the key.
00:28 From an economic point of view, we know that this is important to focus also on the connections
00:35 that Russia has with companies around the world and we also have targeted Chinese companies
00:42 for that. But that's, in my view, a secondary aspect compared to the political message that
00:50 especially in this moment when Navalny was killed under the conditions we know, we give
01:00 a clear message that we are not stepping back.
01:08 This new round of measures will be formally approved before the 24th of February, the
01:12 day that marks two years since the start of the war in Ukraine. However, the overall impact
01:17 of the sanctions on the Russian economy over the last two years is disputed. In 2023, Russia
01:22 experienced a 3.5% economic growth, more than almost all European countries and is expected
01:29 to keep it at 2.6% in 2024, according to the IMF. But for Benefe, it is worth persisting.
01:36 If we take more initiative on our own and we are more united as the European Union speaking
01:42 with our voice, as the European Union with the rest of the world, that we can isolate
01:49 more Russia and this message needs to be given to the elites of that country so that they
01:55 can also push those that are in the room of the buttons in Kremlin to change direction
02:06 and change the situation.
02:09 In this round of sanctions, nearly 200 people and entities have been added to the blacklist,
02:15 which now reads more than 2,000 names.
02:17 [WHOOSH]