The European Union said it was imposing sanctions on Russian ally Belarus to facilitate an invasion of Ukraine.
Brussels:
The European Union (EU) on Sunday announced new sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, closing its airspace to Russian planes and banning Russian state media outlets broadcasting in the bloc.
EU chief Ursula von der Leyen, announcing the measures, also said the EU was taking an unprecedented step of funding Ukraine with arms, and was hitting Russian ally Belarus with sanctions to facilitate an invasion.
We are increasing our support for Ukraine.
For the first time, the European Union will finance the purchase and distribution of weapons and equipment to a country under attack.
We are also strengthening our sanctions against the Kremlin.
https://t.co/qEBICNxYa1— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) February 27, 2022
On top of measures von der Leyen announced a day earlier that are about to go into effect: cutting off some Russian banks from the SWIFT interbank messaging network, banning all transactions with Russia’s central bank, and adding sanctions on Russian oligarchs. .
The European Union has also banned Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
The moves added together in one of the toughest stances taken by the European Union against a country, reflecting the bloc’s panic and anger over Putin’s attack on Ukraine launched on Thursday.
Von der Leyen said in a broadcast address, “As the war in Ukraine continues, and Ukrainians fight valiantly for their country, the European Union once again extends its support for Ukraine and sanctions against the aggressor – Putin’s Russia. “
She said the airspace ban would restrict flights into or over the European Union by “every Russian aircraft – and this includes the private jets of oligarchs”.
Several of the 27 EU countries individually consolidated the measure with an announcement to close airspace to Russian flights, which was already largely anecdotal.
Stopping Russian “Lies”
The move against Russian state media targeted its outlets Russia Today – known as RT – and Sputnik, and their subsidiaries.
Von der Leyen said they would “no longer spread their lies to justify Putin’s war and sow division in our union”.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, in his favor, said the measure included “banning Russia Today and Sputnik from broadcasting in the EU”.
Sputnik responded with a sarcastic statement: “We suggest the European Commission not stop halfway and ban the Internet altogether.”
RT’s French subsidiary tweeted that the ban “goes against the principles of freedom of expression” and said it was a victim of “censorship”.
Von der Leyen stated that the sanctions against Belarus were aimed at “the other aggressors in this war”, naming the regime of strong Alexander Lukashenko.
“We will impress Lukashenko’s regime with a new package of sanctions,” she said.
“We will introduce restrictive measures against their most important sectors. This will prevent their exports of products from mineral fuels to tobacco, wood and timber, cement, iron and steel.
“We will also extend the export restrictions introduced for Russia on dual-use goods to Belarus.”
He said Belarusians who helped Russia’s military campaign would also be banned.
Von der Leyen said the decision to provide funds for the purchase and delivery of weapons to Ukraine was “an important moment for our union”.
Borrell said he would “propose to use the European Peace Facility for emergency aid measures to supply deadly materials to the Ukrainian military as well as to finance badly needed fuel, protective equipment and medical supplies”.
“We are doing this because supporting the Ukrainian military in this war requires our participation – because we live in unprecedented times,” he said.
Borrell was to chair a virtual meeting of EU foreign ministers just after the announcements.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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