Hungary and Greece again blocked the 11th package of EU sanctions against Russia. They demand to reduce the list of sanctioned companies, the so-called "war sponsors".
This is reported by Politico.
Thus, at a meeting of the Committee of Permanent Representatives of the EU, the countries demanded the exclusion of some companies from the list of those supporting the Russian Federation's efforts to overcome sanctions.
In addition, several EU countries, including Germany and France, are concerned about the bypass ban because they fear it could damage diplomatic relations, according to Politico. The European Commission has already softened its initial proposals to take account of these concerns, and one diplomat said the issue appeared "crucial".
The commission had already presented another version of the sanctions proposal ahead of Wednesday's meeting, but it did not lead to a deal, the four diplomats said. EU ambassadors will now discuss the proposal again at their meeting next Wednesday, June 14, hoping to reach an agreement then.
"We are getting closer," the newspaper quoted one of the diplomats as saying.
Scales of Russian sanctions circumvention
According to US State Department Sanctions Coordinator O'Brien, quoted by Politico, the problem is that European companies sell materials to other countries. And they, in turn, resell materials to Russia.
"As of the beginning of this year, Russia was able to reimport certain key categories of electronics at roughly pre-war levels," he said, referring to the chips, processors and integrated circuits needed to build modern weapons.
In which countries is bypass allowed?
O'Brien said the US has identified five countries in particular that are helping Russia circumvent sanctions: Turkey, Kazakhstan, Georgia, the United Arab Emirates and Armenia.
The 11th package of EU sanctions against Russia
At the moment, the EU is working on the 11th package of anti-Russian sanctions. The emphasis in this package is on limiting the ability of other countries to help Russia circumvent the sanctions imposed by the EU. It was previously reported that the EU may adopt the 11th package of sanctions against the Russian Federation by the end of May, but Hungary and Greece are not blocking new sanctions against the Kremlin for the first time. Earlier, the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said that he would start "publicly fighting those who make it possible to circumvent these sanctions."
