Polish FinMin hails new package of EU sanctions on Russia
Polish Finance Minister Andrzej Domanski has expressed satisfaction with the adoption of the 16th package of EU sanctions on Russia.
The EU on Wednesday adopted a compromise proposal of new sanctions against Russia, as presented by the Polish presidency of the Council of the European Union. The new package, which Poland was determined to push through before the third anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, falling on February 24, puts restrictions on more sectors of Russia's economy and its so-called shadow fleet, a group of ageing tankers of unclear ownership which Moscow uses to circumvent sanctions on Russian oil.
"The pressure on the Russian economy must increase," Domanski wrote on the X platform on Wednesday afternoon. "I'm pleased that the Polish presidency has facilitated an agreement on subsequent sanctions on Russia: Disconnecting 13 Russian banks from the financial system SWIFT and a transaction ban on further financial institutions."
He also said that adding "73 vessels from the so-called shadow fleet will make it more difficult to circumvent sanctions, and it will finally become possible to put sanctions on their owners and captains.
"Russia must bear increasingly high costs of its war in Ukraine," he concluded. (PAP)
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