Original Coverage & Source Attribution: kyivindependent.com
BRUSSELS, Belgium — EU ambassadors unanimously approved nearly 1,600 sanctions targeting Russia’s military-industrial complex on Oct. 7, paving the way for them to be formally adopted by EU foreign ministers on Oct. 12 in Luxembourg.
The list, previously seen and reported by the Kyiv Independent on Sept. 21, targets a wide range of defense industry players, from shipyards and aviation companies to electronics manufacturers, armored vehicle repair facilities, and aerospace companies.
It is the largest single list of new sanctions put forward for EU consideration, with the total list of entities and individuals sanctioned as a result of Russia’s war on Ukraine currently standing at roughly 3,000.
Once adopted, the EU intends to move towards a more agile approach of adopting smaller lists of sanctions on a rolling basis rather than bundling them into a single package.
In practice, that change has already taken effect, with separate decisions taken in recent weeks to sanction Russian citizens involved in barring the opposition Yabloko party from parliamentary elections, abducting Ukrainian children, and spreading propaganda in Europe.
Another list of sanctions against those who rigged Russia’s September election, and against candidates who ran in Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory, is also being prepared.
