The EU Foreign Affairs Council is expected to approve the 17th package of European Union sanctions against Russia on Tuesday 20 May, along with three additional sanction packages concerning Russia’s hybrid activities, human rights violations and the use of chemical weapons.

Source:EU official involved in preparing the packages who spoke to European Pravda on condition of anonymity

Details: Several EU diplomats in Brussels also confirmed the plans in conversations with European Pravda.

The source told European Pravda that the Council was planning to adopt a range of diverse sanctions packages on Tuesday, which would constitute the broadest ever simultaneous use of multiple EU sanctions against Russia, totalling four separate packages.

The source added that over 130 individual sanctions are expected to be approved on 20 May, as well as measures targeting Russia’s military industry, its suppliers from third countries, disinformation propaganda and the Russian shadow fleet.

The first package to be approved on 20 May by the EU Council is the 17th package of sanctions introduced in response to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. 

According to the EU official, this package includes 75 listings and nearly 200 vessels belonging to Russia’s shadow fleet, making it the biggest EU sanctions package against Russian vessels to date.

The second package, he noted, focuses on Russia's hybrid activities under the hybrid sanction regime. It includes 27 entries and sectoral measures.

The third package concerns violations of human rights in Russia and is expected to include 28 individual designations within the framework of the EU’s human rights sanctions regime.

The fourth package addresses Russia’s use of chemical weapons as a method of warfare in Ukraine and will be implemented under the EU’s chemical weapons sanctions regime.

The EU official noted that all four packages had been agreed at the ambassadorial level and, as of now, no EU member state – including Hungary – had raised objections to their adoption.

Background:

• As previously reported by European Pravda, the 17th sanctions package is expected to be adopted at the EU Foreign Affairs Council on 20 May.
• On 16 May, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen outlined potential measures to be included in the next, 18th, package of sanctions against Russia, which is already in development.

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