The European Union is set to impose new sanctions on Russia's military industry, with a focus on entities and individuals connected to the country's arms production. According to a proposal seen by RFE/RL, the sanctions target 827 entities and 744 individuals, a record number for a single proposal. The entities include companies involved in missile systems, aerospace, and naval and submarine construction, as well as those producing dual-use goods such as electronics and semiconductors.
The new sanctions proposal marks a shift in the EU's approach to punitive measures against Russia. Unlike previous rounds, there are no sectoral sanctions proposals, which some European officials attribute to the struggle to adopt the 21st package over the summer. Instead, the EU aims to add more names to its extensive asset-freeze and visa-ban blacklist every month. The current list includes nearly 3,000 individuals and entities.
The entities targeted by the new sanctions include Sevmash, one of Russia's most important naval shipbuilding enterprises, and Zvezdochka, which specializes in naval repairs. Other companies on the list include KBM, a Russian joint-stock company involved in military design, and KT Unmanned Systems, a major drone supplier to the Russian armed forces. The individuals proposed for sanctions hold high-level positions within these entities.
The proposal to sanction these entities and individuals comes as the EU is also considering the renewal of its current blacklist, which is proving trickier than expected. Some member states, including Slovakia, want to delist certain oligarchs, such as Alisher Usmanov and Mikheil Fridman, in order to extend the blacklist by six months. However, other member states are opposed to delisting these individuals.
The negotiations over the renewal of the blacklist have become increasingly complicated, with some member states, including France and Luxembourg, indicating that they want to delist certain individuals in exchange for the release of French citizens imprisoned in Azerbaijan. The future of the blacklist is now uncertain, with Latvia pausing any decision due to concerns about the impact on its general elections.
In a separate development, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen's annual State of the European Union speech on September 16 made little mention of enlargement. The speech came as Montenegro, a front-runner for EU membership, struggles to close negotiations on policy chapters. The country's goal of concluding talks by the end of the year now looks unlikely.
The EU's approach to enlargement was also overshadowed by discussions of Canada's potential "associate membership" of the EU. However, there is no such formal status as associate membership, and it remains unclear what this would entail. The EU has not ruled out the possibility of creating such a status in the future, but for now, it remains an idea.
Key points
- The EU proposes to sanction 827 entities and 744 individuals connected to Russia's arms industry.
- The new sanctions mark a shift in the EU's approach, focusing on individual entities and individuals rather than sectoral sanctions.
- The renewal of the EU's blacklist is proving complicated, with some member states pushing to delist certain oligarchs.
