The EU has adopted six rounds of sanctions against Russia and Belarus since the start of the Moscow invasion of Ukraine on February 24, but several areas, including gas, remain largely untouched as EU governments avoid measures that could to hurt their own economies more than the economies of Russia. “Work will continue on sanctions, including strengthening enforcement and preventing circumvention,” EU leaders will say at the end of their regular summit on June 23-24, according to the latest version of their draft conclusions dated June 20 and saw Reuters. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register The text represents a compromise between the Nordic and Eastern countries that pushed for a clear reference to a seventh package in the summit declaration, and nations such as Germany and Belgium that want to focus on implementing existing measures instead of adding more immediately. read more In an earlier version of the text there was no mention of more work on sanctions, with the tweak representing a victory for the hawks. However, in line with Germany ‘s wishes, the new text does not explicitly refer to a seventh package. Although no new package is currently being prepared, work is ongoing to identify areas that could be affected, officials said.
GOLD
Gold is one of the possible targets, according to officials familiar with the matter. Gold is a critical asset for the Russian Central Bank, which has faced restrictions on access to some of its assets held abroad due to Western sanctions. At a closed-door meeting of EU envoys last week, Denmark suggested that further sanctions could include gold, a spokesman for Denmark’s ambassador to the EU said. A person familiar with the sanctions work told Reuters that the European Commission was working on adding gold in a possible next round, although it was not yet clear whether the measure could ban exports to Russia, imports from Russia or both. EU leaders will also agree to speed up plans to finance Ukraine’s reconstruction and take into account new emergency funding of up to € 9 billion ($ 9.45 billion) that the Commission will present shortly, the EU said in a statement. draft of the document. They are also going to push for new military support in Ukraine, the document showed. Officials said that could amount to at least 0.5 billion euros in addition to the 2 billion already approved. read more ($ 1 = 0.9483 euros) Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Report by @fraguarascio? Editing by Alison Williams and Gareth Jones Our role models: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
