Price cap on oil prices, a halt to the use of the two Nord Stream gas pipelines and a wall around Russian finances : these are just some of the items in the new package of sanctions announced by the European Union for Russia , to force Putin to negotiate with Kiev. The EU is therefore trying to adopt "the language of force, the only one that Russia knows ", and it does so with the eighteenth attempt at an economic offensive aimed at draining the resources of Vladimir Putin's "war chest" , suffocating every flow of funding and relaunching diplomatic pressure to push Moscow to "seriously" engage in negotiations with Ukraine towards "a just and lasting peace".

The new measures, defined by Ursula von der Leyen as "robust and tough" , hit energy and banks, strengthening existing bans and trying to close the loopholes that are still open . Among the main proposals on the table of the Twenty-seven stands out the price cap on oil , the maximum limit for the price of Russian black gold that drops from 60 to 45 dollars a barrel : the aim is to hit Moscow's energy revenues even harder. The import of refined petroleum products in third countries will also be banned, to close the door to what Brussels calls shortcuts from the "back". They are also moving forward with a firm clampdown on the network of ships used to export oil while evading sanctions. The EU is expanding the list: another 77 vessels will be banned from European ports.

Furthermore, the halt to the use of the two Nord Stream gas pipelines , which have become the symbol of Europe's energy dependence on the Kremlin, has been made official. The new package of measures prohibits their use for the transport of gas between Russia and Germany. Another direction of the EU offensive aims to shield Russian finances: a total ban on Swift transactions has been proposed , making it even more difficult for Moscow to access the global financial system, to be extended to 22 other institutions. Third-country intermediaries who help to avoid sanctions are also targeted: for them, transactions are prohibited. The Russian Direct Investment Fund is also under observation, to block strategic investments and slow down the modernization of the national economy.

(Online Union)

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