The European Union intends to capture a portion of Russian energy income from gas and oil imports to Europe in order to fund Ukraine’s reconstruction.
According to the proposal, a portion of Russian energy companies’ income, which has totalled €19 billion (around $21 billion) since Russia invaded Ukraine, would be moved to a special “escrow” bank account that would be spent for aid to Kyiv at a later date.
As EU ambassadors meet today to discuss a ban on Russian coal imports and a possible timeframe for the following oil embargo, Ursula von der Leyen, the German president of the European Commission, signaled the escalation in penalties.
“These sanctions will not be our last sanctions. Yes, we have now banned coal but now we have to look into oil. And we’ll have to look into the revenues that Russia gets from these fossil fuels,” she told the European parliament.
“We really have to make an effort. For example, an escrow banking system so that we will really limit the source of revenues. This is the next step we have to take together.”
EU ambassadors will debate putting important Russian corporate people on a blacklist, which may include financial sanctions and travel restrictions. Oleg Deripaska, a metals oligarch, and Herman Gref, the CEO of Russia’s Sberbank, are among them. Due to concerns about the economic consequences of curtailing their company activities, both were left off prior EU sanctions lists.
Both have been on the US and UK sanctions lists since last month, and the EU’s decision not to penalize them sparked a diplomatic spat as well as protests from Poland and other EU members.
The EU’s foreign policy leader, Josep Borrell, pointed out that sustained EU imports of Russian oil and gas supplied the Kremlin several times more money than the EU’s financial aid to Ukraine.
“We have given Ukraine one billion euros . . . but a billion euros is what we pay Putin every day for the energy he provides us,” Borrell said.
He also demanded that the EU deliver “more weapons, as that is what the Ukrainians expect of us.”
Maria Vorontsova and Katerina Tikhonova, two of Putin’s children, would be blacklisted because they are seen as beneficiaries of state funds.
Boris Rotenberg, a member of President Putin’s inner circle, Alexander Shulgin, the CEO of Russian internet behemoth Ozon, and Said Kerimov, the owner of Russia’s largest gold mining business, Polyus, are among the billionaires who will be blacklisted.
The EU would impose fresh export bans costing €15.5 billion(around $17 billion) in addition to the coal embargo — an industry worth €4 billion(around $4.37 billion) a year despite accounting for less than 4% of Russia’s energy sales.
According to draft laws reviewed by The Times, embargoes on quantum computers and advanced semiconductors are worth €10 billion (around $10.9 billion), while new bans on wood, cement, seafood, and booze are worth €5.5 billion(aprox $6 billion).
Because of his ties to arms businesses, Deripaska will be blacklisted, possibly as a way to cushion the damage to aluminum and other metals manufacturing in Austria and other nations.
Rotenberg, who has dual citizenship with Finland, and his nephew Igor will be banned as a result of their close friendship with Putin, which has resulted in vast sums of money from state-controlled oil and gas businesses.
Proposals to grant shelter to Russian soldiers who left their units in Ukraine, according to Charles Michel, head of the European Council of EU leaders, are “a valuable idea that should be pursued.” “If you want no part in killing your Ukrainian brothers and sisters, if you don’t want to be a criminal, drop your arms, stop fighting, leave the battlefield,” he added.
Image Credit: Getty
You were reading: Ursula von der Leyen plans to seize Russian oil to rebuild Ukraine