EU imposes 4th set of sanctions against Russia, also targeting Abramovich

The EU on Monday adopted new sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, with diplomats saying the oligarch Roman Abramovich was among the individuals listed.

The EU presidency, currently held by France, tweeted that the ambassadors of the bloc’s 27 member nations approved a fourth package of sanctions, hitting individuals and companies “implicated in the assault on Ukraine.”

Their names were to be made public in a “quick” publication of the EU’s Official Journal legally announcing all the European Union’s decisions, it said, adding that the sanctions were worked out in concert with Western partners.

The EU presidency said in a statement that the bloc also approved a declaration to the World Trade Organization “on suspending the application of the most-favored-nation clause for Russia and suspending the examination of Belarus’ application for accession to the WTO.”

If Russia is suspended, its companies would no longer receive special treatment throughout the bloc.

Three diplomats told AFP that Abramovich, the Jewish billionaire owner of the Chelsea football club, was added to the list of wealthy Russians whose assets in the EU — including superyachts and mansions — can be seized and entry into the bloc refused.

The EU’s move against Abramovich follows those of Britain and Canada, which last week put him on their own sanctions lists. London’s decision suspended Abramovich’s hasty attempt to sell Chelsea, which was announced March 2.

According to one of the EU diplomats, the stated reason for sanctioning Abramovich was because he “is a Russian oligarch who has long and close ties to (Russian President) Vladimir Putin,” to whom he has “privileged access.”

He is seen as providing “a substantial source of revenue” to Russia’s government.

A private plane belonging to Roman Abramovich landed in Moscow early Tuesday morning after a short stop in Turkey, hours after he was photographed in the VIP departure lounge at Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv shortly before the plane departed.

Several Hebrew media reports said Abramovich, an Israeli passport-holder, was aboard the departing plane, but there was no immediate confirmation.

At the weekend, Abramovich’s 140-meter-long (460-foot-long) superyacht Solaris was spotted arriving at a port in Montenegro, which is not part of the EU but has ambitions to join it. The vessel left the Spanish port of Barcelona days earlier.

Abramovich, 55, has a fortune worth $12.4 billion (11.3 billion euros), according to Forbes magazine, and is rumored to own half a dozen yachts. He has also acquired Portuguese and Israeli nationalities.

‘Barbaric war’

The announcements were in line with what leaders had announced at the Versailles summit last Friday, that a stringent package of sanctions would be coming if Russia continued its invasion of Ukraine. The exact details of the latest package of sanctions will only be known upon publication in the EU’s official journal.

Since the war started last month, the EU has adopted tough measures targeting Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russia’s financial system and its high-maintenance oligarchs. Last week, the bloc’s nations agreed to slap further sanctions on 160 individuals and added new restrictions on the export of maritime navigation and radio communication technology.

They also decided to exclude three Belarusian banks from SWIFT, the dominant system for global financial transactions. Altogether, EU restrictive measures now apply to a total of 862 individuals and 53 entities.

In a statement published after the summit, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the fourth package of sanctions will further isolate Russia “and drain the resources it uses to finance this barbaric war.”

She said the EU will work in lockstep with Group of Seven countries to ramp up the pressure against Moscow.

Efforts to agree on an oil boycott against Russia are complicated, because some EU countries, including Germany and Italy, are much more dependent than others on Russian energy. Showing the range within the EU, Poland gets 67% of its oil from Russia while Ireland receives only 5%.

Russia’s gross domestic product is forecast to shrink dramatically under the successive rounds of sanctions imposed by the EU and US and their allies, which target the Russian central bank and companies including airlines.