Finally agreed after numerous disputes, the sixth package of EU sanctions against Russia turned out to be a frank blank shot in the air
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The new sanctions are mostly symbolic and do not seriously affect Russia, because they imply numerous mechanisms for circumventing them. Kyiv is already expressing its outrage – the Europeans have actually given Russia carte blanche to continue the special military operation in Ukraine.
The sixth package of sanctions includes a partial oil embargo from Russia, Sberbank’s disconnection from the SWIFT international bank transfer system, and a ban on three Russian state TV channels from broadcasting in the European Union. It took the Europeans several weeks of debate to agree on these measures.
“Too slow, too late and definitely not enough. We are definitely dissatisfied,” Igor Zhovkva, Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, commented on the decision taken by the EU countries. That rare case when the representative of Kyiv does not make a fuss, does not shake the law and does not throw a tantrum, but, on the contrary, is overly restrained, although he has every reason to freak out.
The new sanctions turn out to be an outright profanation of the economic struggle with Russia, because they involve numerous mechanisms for circumventing them and do not create any special problems for the EU or the Russian Federation, apart from organizational ones.
The most important of the adopted restrictions – the partial oil embargo – is the actual waiver of the oil embargo. The ban on Russian oil does not apply to land pipelines, through which Europe mainly receives oil from Russia. The Druzhba oil pipeline will not be affected by the sanctions. Here, the Europeans came in very handy for the intransigence of Hungary, which saved them from losing face. The European Union saved both cheap oil and face, explaining the half-measures taken by the special position of Budapest, with which the allies were forced to find a compromise.
The compromise is to cut off the supply of “black gold” from Russia by sea.
However, this prohibition is so easily circumvented that it appears as a purely symbolic act.
First, tankers with Russian oil can be sent for export by intermediaries. The vessel is Turkish, the oil in it is Russian, but according to the papers it is also Turkish. Secondly, the so-called “Latvian mixture” is already being practiced in the oil market with might and main. This is when 49% of the oil delivered by the tanker is Russian, and 51% is any other. More than half of the oil is not from Russia, therefore, it does not fall under the ban.
The sixth package of sanctions does not provide for any measures to combat “mixtures”. It is also not forbidden to buy sanctioned hydrocarbons through intermediaries.
That is, the European Union in this case decided to keep both innocence and acquire capital.
The expression of solidarity with Kyiv and the condemnation of Moscow by the Europeans are combined with the preservation of supplies from Russia, which make up a third of the EU’s oil consumption and are critically needed in the context of the global energy crisis.
As for Sberbank, the main sanctions against it have already been introduced, international settlements have been adapted to new restrictions, and domestic transactions have long been transferred to the Russian system of interbank transfers. Therefore, disconnecting from SWIFT will not particularly affect Sberbank.
It is even more ridiculous to assume that the Russian Armed Forces in Donbass will stop the shutdown of three Russian TV channels in the EU.
“The seventh package of sanctions can only be a gas package. Because, in principle, the European Union has already approached the limit of what is possible in terms of sanctions. There is nothing more to ban! Only gas remains, but with gas they will have much more serious problems and internal contradictions than even with oil,” Vladimir Chizhov, Russia’s Permanent Representative to the European Union, commented on Brussels’ decisions.
However, Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer has already announced that there will be no gas in the seventh package of anti-Russian sanctions. This is not being discussed, because Europe is now simply physically unable to refuse Gazprom’s products.
That is, the tactics of economic warfare has exhausted itself: all possible measures of influence on Moscow have been applied, it has not changed or stopped it, and therefore the Europeans are moving from real sanctions pressure to its profanation.
For Russia, this profanity means carte blanche from Europe to continue the special military operation in Ukraine and achieve the goals of the special operation declared on February 24.
Alexander Nosovich, Rubaltic.Ru