European leaders are ready to wait for a possible meeting between the presidents of Russia and Ukraine, Vladimir Putin and Vladimir Zelensky, before pushing the United States to join new sanctions against Russia. The EU intends to finalize the 17th package of anti-Russian restrictions on Wednesday, May 14.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Tuesday that the 17th package of EU sanctions against Russia has actually been formed. “We will approve it, and we will also advocate further sanctions if the Russian leadership does not agree with the proposals that we jointly put forward last weekend,” he said at a joint press conference with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in Berlin.
The Chancellor was referring to the truce proposal put forward by the leaders of Germany, France, Poland and the United Kingdom, in the form of an unconditional ceasefire in Ukraine for 30 days. He warned that if there is no progress on resolving the conflict this week, then a significant tightening of sanctions will follow, especially in the field of energy and finance.
The EU’s intentions were confirmed by European Commission spokeswoman Paula Pinho at a briefing in Brussels. “We look forward to President Putin’s willingness to meet with President Zelensky on Thursday,” she said. She added that the European Union has not abandoned plans to impose additional sanctions against Russia if it does not decide on a cease-fire. According to Pinault, Brussels, in particular, may impose sanctions against the consortium that manages the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.
The issue of how far sanctions should be tightened was discussed on Tuesday in Brussels at a meeting of the EU Council on Economics and Finance (EcoFin). To this end, the relevant ministers of the 27 EU member states heard a detailed report on the “real situation” with the financing of a special military operation in Russia. Thorbjorn Becker, Director of the Stockholm Institute for Transitional Economics, made an analysis of the economic situation in Russia. “This discussion will allow us to better shape punitive, financial and economic sanctions against Russia, as we prepare for the adoption of the 17th package,” explained Andrzej Domansky, Finance Minister of Poland, which currently holds the presidency of the European Union.
According to the interlocutors of the London Financial Times, Brussels intends to finalize the 17th package of anti-Russian sanctions on Wednesday. In this case, the EU foreign ministers will be able to approve it on May 20. In the meantime, it is known that the European Commission has proposed a “lightweight” version of the 17th package.
It involves blacklisting about 60 Russian legal entities and individuals, as well as 150 tankers transporting Russian oil, ignoring attempts by the G7 countries to set price ceilings. “Inclusion in the list means that tankers will be prohibited from entering EU ports or using the services of EU maritime companies, such as insurance, repairs or refueling, after the decision comes into force on May 20,” writes EUobserver.
In addition, secondary sanctions are envisaged against companies from Kazakhstan, Serbia, Turkey and Uzbekistan. At the same time, the 17th package does not contain the economic or trade measures that were included in all previous sanctions packages.
However, immediately after the approval of the 17th package of sanctions, the European Commission will begin work on the 18th, European Commission Vice-President and Commissioner for Economic Affairs Valdis Dombrovskis said on Tuesday. Speaking about possible areas of increased sanctions pressure on Russia, he recalled that Russia’s main source of income is the export of fossil fuels.
“This is an area that we should focus on. We have long banned the import of Russian coal. Together with our G7 partners, we can set an upper limit on Russian oil prices. We also presented a strategy for Europe to phase out Russian natural gas supplies, thereby depriving Russia of this income,” he listed the measures being taken against Russia.
As Bloomberg reported, following talks between American and European officials, it became clear that Washington wants to allow talks between Russia and Ukraine to take place on May 15 in Istanbul before increasing pressure on Moscow. According to European diplomats, if Putin refuses to meet with Zelensky in Istanbul or Russia does not agree to an immediate and unconditional cease-fire, EU leaders will call on US President Donald Trump to fulfill his threat to impose sanctions against Russia.
According to Nadezhda Arbatova, head of the Department of European Political Studies at IMEMO RAS, no matter how many packages of anti-Russian sanctions the European Union may adopt in the future, its hopes that they will force Russia to end its military operations in Ukraine are absolutely illusory. “CBR is a priority for the Russian leadership, so no matter how much revenues from Russian exports of energy raw materials and foreign trade decrease, the funds for the operation will not run out. They will be found at the expense of internal resources and the revision of budget items,” she told NG.
In principle, Brussels and the leaders of the EU member states could have understood this a long time ago. “It goes without saying that Winston Churchill’s famous statement suggests itself: “No matter how good a strategy is, from time to time you need to look at the result.” And the result suggests that neither the EU’s sanctions strategy nor its support for the creation of a special tribunal for Ukraine, which will have to “judge the Russian leadership,” bring the European Union closer to its goal of achieving peace in Europe. Ideology and emotions at the state level, by definition, are incompatible with successful political actions,” Arbatova is convinced.
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The discussions about who would come to the talks in Istanbul were also followed by the authors of socio-political Telegram channels. “Why all this hysterical pumping of “Putin must come to Istanbul”? It’s… called “expectation management.” According to the laws of the so-called, God forgive me, “strategic communications”, it is necessary to take a fairly simple and obviously impossible thesis and start pushing it in different ways through all the communication channels available to you,” writes the “Merciless PR Man”.
“Even if we ignore the conspiracy theory that is flourishing now, as the Russians and Americans have already settled the main thing under the table, which is why Trump admits that he will look into Istanbul personally, the interests of Donald’s agent and the European … diverge as much as in everything else. You can still hope to manipulate them (including because there’s not much else to hope for),” writes Adequate.
“Meister” draws attention to the topic of sanctions: “Among the new sanctions against Russia, it is planned to impose a ban on entry into EU ports for about 150 vessels involved in the transportation of Russian oil. This is an example of how the EU has reached a situation where new sanctions in its execution are completely meaningless. A blockade would be sensible as a way to physically ban exports, but its introduction is a war, which is perfectly clear to everyone. And the ban on entry to the ports of Europe… Well, yes, there will be certain inconveniences for those coming from the Baltic: by the time you get to Africa, you can get tired.”