The EU Council agreed on a package of measures to respond to the decision by the Russian Federation to proceed with the recognition of the non-government controlled areas of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts in Ukraine as independent entities, and the ensuing decision to send Russian troops into these areas. The agreed package includes: targeted sanctions against the 351 members of the Russian State Duma and an additional 27 Generals;
restrictions on economic relations with the non-government controlled areas of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts;
restrictions on Russia’s access to the EU’s capital and Finance markets and services.
General
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First package of sanctions against Russia
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Secondary-market sovereign-bond ban; VEB & PSB asset freezes; Central bank sanctions
The measures prohibit US Finance institutions from buying or selling Russian sovereign bonds issued after March 1 2022 in secondary markets and confirm existing primary-market and lending bans; designate VEB Bank, Promsvyazbank, their subsidiaries, several vessels and assorted Russian elites and relatives as Specially Designated Nationals, freezing their US-linked assets and transactions; place the Central Bank of Russia, the National Wealth Fund and the Ministry of Finance on the Non-SDN Menu-Based Sanctions List, exposing them to menu-based penalties; and identify the Russian Finance-services sector as sanctionable.
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Comprehensive sanctions targeting the Finance sector (Sberbank and VTB), specific oligarchs, and major companies
Comprehensive sanctions targeting the Finance sector, specific oligarchs, and major companies.
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Targeted sanctions on banks and oligarchs, with asset freezes; no sovereign debt issuance allowed on UK markets
Targeted sanctions on five Russian banks and three oligarchs (Gennady Timchenko, Boris Rotenberg, and Igor Rotenberg), including asset freezes and travel bans. Russia prevented from issuing sovereign debt on UK markets.
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Forced tech transfer, 2% revenue levy
Draft federal law requires organizations from “unfriendly” states to disclose technologies used in high-tech products and transfer 2% of their revenue to Russia’s Technological Sovereignty Fund.