New EU and U.S. sanctions on Russia go into effect

New European Union and United States sanctions against Russia have gone into force on Friday, with the EU blocking loans for five big state banks and curbing EU business with oil and defence firms.The U.S. Treasury Department also announced its latest moves, targeting Russia’s financial, energy and defence sectors. The aim is to keep pressure on Russia over its role in the Ukraine crisis following on from its annexation of Crimea in March. Russia says it is preparing a response. One top Russian official said cars imported from the EU could be targeted. But the EU could lift the sanctions next month if Moscow abides by a fragile truce with Ukraine.

If the situation on the ground so warrants, [there may be] proposals to amend, suspend or repeal the set of sanctions in force, in all or in part.

European Council President Herman Van Rompuy

The 28 governments of EU member states last week agreed on the new sanctions against Russia but spent several days wrangling over their announcement and implementation. The new sanctions are expected to put Russia’s top oil producers and pipeline operators, Rosneft, Transneft and Gazprom Neft, on a list of Russian state-owned firms that will not be allowed to raise capital or borrow on European markets. Meanwhile, the United States plans to sanction Sberbank, Russia’s largest bank, and to further limit other Russian banks’ access to U.S. capital.

Europe