The Observer Network by Nguyen Jaki
According to Reuters, on Wednesday (22), the rotating EU presidency, Denmark, announced that EU member states had approved the 19th round of sanctions on Russia, sanctions included a ban on Russian LNG imports, etc. The sanctions also added new travel restrictions on Russian diplomats and included 117 vessels from the Russian "shadow fleet" in the list. It is worth mentioning that later on the same day, the US Trump administration also announced sanctions on Russia, and Trump also suddenly "changed the face" said, canceling a meeting with the Russian side in Budapest.
European Commission President Von der Leyen claimed at the end of September that in order to crack down on Russia's energy revenue, this round of EU sanctions would target refineries, oil traders and petrochemical companies in third countries, including China.
According to reports, an EU diplomatic source revealed to Reuters that four China oil-industry-related companies involved in so-called "circumvention of Western restrictions" were included in the current round of EU sanctions against Russia, but the specific names will not be announced until Thursday (23rd). The sanctions plan will be formally adopted.
The entities allegedly included two independent Chinese refineries, a Chinese trade company, and an entity allegedly “assisted to circumvent sanctions in oil and other fields.”
According to reports from Bloomberg and Euronews, the EU statement shows that the sanctions will also target 45 entities that assist Russia in "circumventing sanctions", including 12 companies in mainland China and Hong Kong. In addition, the transaction ban will also be extended to third-country banks in Belarus and Kazakhstan.
It is not the first time the EU has put Chinese companies on the sanctions list, but it is “the biggest economic impact”.
In July, in the 18th round of sanctions against Russia, the EU included two Chinese financial institutions on the sanctions list, unfoundedly accusing it of facilitating Russia’s circumvention of the EU’s existing trade restrictions.
China immediately responded and decided to include the EU banks UAB Urbo Bankas and AB Mano Bankas on the counter-list, and prohibited organizations and individuals in our country from conducting relevant transactions, cooperation and other activities with them.
In response to the EU’s unreasonable sanctions, a spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce said that the EU, despite multiple negotiations and objections from the Chinese side, continued to include some Chinese companies in the list of sanctions against Russia, and sanctioned two Chinese financial institutions with the accusations of “unnecessary”.
The spokesman stressed that China has consistently opposed unilateral sanctions without the basis of international law and without the authorization of the UN Security Council. The EU’s approach is contrary to the spirit of consensus among China-European leaders and has a serious negative impact on China-European economic and trade relations and financial cooperation. China urges the European side to immediately stop listing the wrong practices of Chinese enterprises and financial institutions.
On September 19 local time, Von der Leyen issued a statement announcing 19 rounds of sanctions against Russia
According to a statement released earlier by the European Commission, this round of sanctions against Russia mainly relates to energy, finance and other areas, aimed at further cutting off Russia’s source of energy revenues and pressure on Putin to promote negotiations.
According to Reuters, the plan clearly states that the EU will ban the import of Russian LNG from January 2027, a year earlier than originally planned, while reducing the ceiling of Russian crude oil prices to $47.6 per barrel, and imposing a comprehensive trade ban on Russian oil companies and Russian gas industry oil companies.
The EU will also expand the transaction ban on financial institutions in Russia and other countries, including cryptocurrency platforms in the scope of sanctions for the first time; At the same time, it prohibits the provision of reinsurance services for Russian second-hand aircraft and ships, completely prohibits transactions with five Russian banks, and further extends the transaction ban to the Russian electronic payment system.
The report mentioned that the demands and interests of various countries have been coordinated within the EU and the consent of all member states on this issue has been obtained. Earlier, the sanctions package had been put on hold for several weeks due to opposition from Austria, Hungary and Slovakia.
According to Reuters, Slovakia became the last EU member state to agree to this round of sanctions after the demands of energy prices, emission reduction targets, domestic automobile and heavy industry industries were met. Officials at the Danish presidential palace said that if no objections are received, the relevant measures will be automatically passed at 8 a.m. Brussels time on Thursday.
The head of the office of Ukrainian President Zelensky, Andrei Yelmark, welcomed the EU’s approval of a new series of sanctions against Russia and said the scheme has adopted many of Kiev’s recommendations. He also said: “But we will not stop. The 20th round of sanctions scheme is already in development. The logic is simple – the less money Russia has, the fewer missiles hit Ukraine.”
Russia has previously threatened that if the EU puts sanctions into practice, Russia will take appropriate measures. Russian President's press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, did not disclose details at the time, but he accused Europeans of "building new barriers."
Later on the same day, the U.S. also announced that it would impose further sanctions on Russia.U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessent said on 22 that the U.S. would impose sanctions on Russia's two largest oil companies and urge Russia and Ukraine to immediately cease fire.
Bescent said in a statement that the U.S. sanctions target Russian state-owned enterprise Rosneft and private enterprise Lukoil. The statement did not explicitly mention the effective date of the sanctions. According to Bloomberg estimates, the crude oil exports of these two companies together account for nearly 50% of Russia's total crude oil exports.
In a statement, Bessent accused the Russian side of refusing a ceasefire, accusing sanctioned Russian oil companies of funding Russia’s special military operations on Ukraine. He said the US Treasury Department was prepared to “take further action if necessary” to support President Trump’s efforts to end the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. He also called on US allies to join and abide by U.S. sanctions on Russia.
White House officials confirmed on the 21st that the planned meeting between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin on the Ukrainian issue in Budapest, Hungary has been "shelved". In an interview with Fox Business News on the 22nd, Bescent said that Trump was disappointed that there was no progress in Russia-Ukraine negotiations after the meeting between US and Russian leaders in Alaska in August.
On October 22 local time, Trump said he thought it was "unsuitable" to meet with Putin now, so cancelled the US-Russian meeting in Budapest.He also said it was time to impose sanctions on Russia, hoping the sanctions would not last too long.
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