The European Union agreed to impose a fresh round of sanctions against Russia amid Donald Trump’s push for negotiations on Ukraine’s fate, which has cast doubt over the long-term viability of the hard-hitting restrictions.
Trump’s secretary of state, Marco Rubio, suggested that Europe would eventually be called to the negotiating table to discuss sanctions relief for the Kremlin.
“We are committed to keep up the pressure on the Kremlin,” said Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission.
Wednesday’s deal among ambassadors was deliberately timed to arrive in the lead-up to the invasion’s third anniversary, which the College of Commissioners is set to mark with a joint visit to Kyiv. It represents the 16th package of restrictions since February 2022.
The new sanctions introduce a ban on imports of Russian primary aluminium, an idea that was discussed in the past but never approved due to the reticence of some member states who worried about its economic impact.
Russian unwrought aluminium accounts for about 6% of the EU’s aluminium imports, a share that has decreased over the past years as European manufacturers moved away from Russian suppliers.
The EU had already banned certain aluminium-made products coming from Russia, such as wires, tubes and pipes, though these only accounted for a fraction of purchases. Now, the ban is extended to cover primary aluminium, which is sold as ingots, slabs and billets, and makes up the vast share of the imported value.
Besides the raw metal, the latest package of sanctions broadens the blacklist against tankers belonging to Russia’s “shadow fleet,” which the Kremlin has deployed to circumvent Western restrictions on oil trade and maintain a source of revenue that is crucial to fund the war on Ukraine.
The fleet consists of old-age, uninsured ships suspected of deceptive practices, including transmitting falsified data, turning off their transporters to become invisible and conducting multiple ship-to-ship transfers to conceal the origin of their oil barrels.
