The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, announced this Sunday new measures in retaliation against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. In addition to the expulsion of the SWIFT banking system, it will close the airspace of the European Union to commercial and private flights, in addition to preventing the broadcast or dissemination of some media related to the Vladimir Putin regime, such as Russia Today (RT) or Sputnik .
“We close EU airspace to Russian-registered, Russian-controlled or Russian-owned airlines. They will not be able to land, take off or fly over EU territory,” that is, “every Russian plane, including private jets from the oligarchs,” von der Leyen pointed out.
As a second measure, Russia Today and Sputnik, as well as their subsidiaries, will be prevented from “spreading their lies to justify Putin’s war and cause division in our Union.”
Added to this is the imposition of sanctions on the Lukashenko regime, the Belarusian leader, whom he has described as “accomplice” in the attack. The sanctions that will impact on the “most important sectors” of him. “This will stop their exports of products such as fossil fuels, tobacco, wood, cement, iron and steel,” he said. It will also go against those Belarusians who help the Russian war effort.
Finally, von der Leyen praised the courage of the Ukrainian people and its president, Volodimir Zelenski, and said that the EU will help the countries that are receiving refugees from Ukraine.
We are stepping up our support for Ukraine.
For the first time, the EU will finance the purchase and delivery 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
For his part, the High Representative of the EU, Josep Borrell, met on Sunday afternoon by videoconference with the foreign ministers of the 27 member countries to approve measures such as Russia’s expulsion from SWIFT, the blockade of the international reserves of the Central Bank of Russia.
In addition, the EU will allocate 450 million euros to finance the shipment of lethal weapons and ammunition to Ukraine to help the population defend itself against the invasion led by Russia, a support that will add another 50 million for non-lethal material such as fuel. or medical supplies. The measures will have to take legal form in the next few hours or days.
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