EU working on fourth package of sanctions

The Austrian Minister for Foreign Affairs Alexander Schallenberg announced on Wednesday that a new package of economic sanctions against Russia was in the pipeline in the European Union.

“We have already introduced powerful sanctions. We are working on the fourth package,” he told journalists.

According to Schallenberg, the new package will be directed against the wealthiest Russian businessmen, or “oligarchs,” as he called them.

“We are working. There are already new lists,” he said. 

Restrictions already imposed against Russia have made a significant impact on the country’s economy, he asserted. Schallenberg also cited the continued closure of Russian stock exchanges for most trading, as well as the devaluation of the Russian national currency, as signs of the successes of Western punitive measures. 

The European minister said a special meeting between top EU diplomats and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was scheduled to take place next Friday.

Russia attacked Ukraine last week, claiming its national security required demilitarization of its neighbors due to a creeping expansion of NATO into Ukrainian territory. The West is treating it as an unprovoked act of aggression and intends to cripple the Russian economy in retaliation.

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