EU prepares ‘punitive duties’ against Russian Federation

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Christian Democrats leader Friedrich Merz, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will meet in the Albanian capital of Tirana on Friday. They will discuss ways to end the war in Ukraine, Politico reported.

Four European officials said the conversation will focus on significantly strengthening sanctions against Moscow. They all spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the topic.

According to two of the officials, the talk will include imposing punitive duties on imports from Russia. Although the EU has already imposed quite a few sanctions against Russia since 2022, there has not yet been a full trade blockade. The imposition of duties was previously discussed as a way to circumvent Hungary's resistance to new sanctions.

On Wednesday, EU ambassadors agreed on a 17th package of sanctions against Russia, which includes measures against about 200 vessels in the so-called “shadow fleet” used to circumvent sanctions on oil and gas exports.

An EU official said the idea for the new sanctions was inspired by U.S. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who proposed imposing 500 percent duties on Russian exports if Putin did not stop attacks on Ukraine.

“We take the scale of that proposal as a model,” the official added.

Photo: rusmedia.