This week in Brussels, Ukrainian civil society organisations presented the White Paper “The Future of European Leadership in the Economic Deterrence of Aggression”, which calls on the European Union to become the driver of the sanctions coalition and increase economic pressure on Russia.
The document, endorsed and supported by the Expert Group on Sanctions Policy under the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, was prepared by the members of the national sanctions coalition of NGOs with the participation of Razom We Stand. The authors analysed the achievements and vulnerabilities of the EU sanctions policy and proposed practical tools to strengthen the economic security of the bloc, both in response to Russian aggression and to counter future threats. The document was presented in Brussels by representatives of three civil society organisations – the Economic Security Council of Ukraine, Razom We Stand, and the Institute of Legislative Ideas.
Razom We Stand took an active part in the development of the White Paper’s section on blocking Russian energy exports, providing its own expert proposals for sanctions against the shadow fleet and a ban on LNG imports. These recommendations are aimed at blocking the channels through which Russia receives revenues from fossil fuel exports, including through the shadow fleet, which allows the Kremlin to circumvent restrictions and finance the war against Ukraine.
“We call on the EU to use all available tools and measures to reduce the Kremlin’s energy export revenues. Among the measures that the EU has not yet fully applied are sanctions against captains of shadow fleet vessels and companies that provide them with crews. We recommend the creation of an official blacklist of vessels involved in sanctions circumvention. Using such a blacklist, EU member states will be able to better control the safety of navigation in their territorial waters. using shadow or fraudulent oil transportation schemes. We also call for strengthening cooperation with insurance companies and intelligence agencies for global control over the circumvention of sanctions on energy exports,” said Oleg Savitsky, Strategic Advisor at Razom We Stand.
During the panel discussion, Tomas Sindelar, Deputy Head of the Sanctions Unit at the European External Action Service (EEAS), expressed support for the comprehensive approaches outlined in the White Paper. Using the example of countering Russia’s shadow fleet, he explained how the EU’s sanctions instruments have already evolved:
“Initially, we focused exclusively on ships, but recent analysis has shown that there is a whole ecosystem of operators around the shadow fleet – insurance companies, fleet managers, and service providers. And if these entities are also seriously affected by the sanctions, it allows us to disrupt the entire mechanism while maintaining pressure on the fleet itself. The 17th package of sanctions was the first time we applied such a comprehensive approach. We have more than doubled the number of vessels under sanctions and for the first time included not only the vessels themselves but also related operators – not only in Russia but also in third countries.”
Horizontal recommendations of the White Paper “The Future of European Leadership in the Economic Deterrence of Aggression” іnclude the creation of a single EU sanctions authority, the introduction of an analogue of the US sanctions list (entity list), tighter control over the export of high-risk goods, the introduction of extraterritorial (secondary) sanctions to facilitate the circumvention of restrictions, and the maintenance of sanctions against the Russian defense sector, energy and nuclear exports even after the end of hostilities.
Razom We Stand is a Ukrainian organisation that works internationally to call for a complete and permanent embargo on Russian fossil fuels and an immediate end to all investment in Russian oil and gas companies through a revolutionary fossil fuel divestment worldwide.
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