The objective of the EU is to leave Vladimir Putin without room for maneuver in his invasion of Ukraine, and for this the bloc sees it necessary to continue approving sanctions. Although there are fewer and fewer sectors of the Russian economy to attack, Germany proposes that a clause be included in the next package of measures that guarantees that European companies will not export military material to Russia.

Berlin is committed to “smart” sanctions that are specifically focused on preventing goods that can be used in the war in Ukraine, such as drones, from ending up in Russia re-exported by third countries with which the bloc trades, thus bypassing European measures. Specifically, diplomatic sources explain to Europa Press that the idea is to promote a “'no Russia' clause” by which European companies would export a series of goods to third countries only if they have contractual guarantees that they will not end up in the hands of Russia.

In this way, the responsibility for the fight against the evasion of European sanctions would fall more on the exporting companies and not so much on the countries, as the proposal of the European Commission affects, a vision supported by Member States such as the Baltics. This also gives continuity to what was expressed by Chancellor Olaf Scholz in the European Parliament last Tuesday, when he said that the Union must continue to support Ukraine for as long as necessary.

In this way, the machinery to approve the eleventh package of sanctions against Moscow has already been set in motion while the EU assumes that a good implementation of the approved measures is more important now before tackling new ones intensively.. But there are countries that understand that the double rhythm is complementary. When it comes to focusing on Russian companies, some Member States have warned the Commission that it is better to tread carefully so as not to damage commercial relations in some cases.

The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has advocated “sharpening” the existing instruments to stop the “unusual” trade of certain products with third countries, which the EU suspects are then sold to Moscow. Brussels wants a new sanctions regime to punish those exports, although it has defended it as a “last resort” tool, in addition to applying sanctions against companies that openly bypass restrictions.. The debate between Member States, which ultimately close and approve the sanctions, will continue this Friday, at which time several will put more ideas and suggestions on the table on the design of the new batch of sanctions.