Brussels, in coordination with the Group of Seven, will implement the fourth package of sanctions against Moscow to continue hitting its economy

EU announces fourth package of sanctions against Russia together with G7

photo_camera PHOTO/STEFAN ROUSSEAU - Group photo of the G7 foreign ministers' meeting in London in 2021

The president of the European Commission (EC), Ursula von der Leyen, announced Friday that the EU bloc will decide on a fourth package of sanctions against Russia that will be detailed in the coming hours in coordination with the G7.

"We are going to implement a fourth package of sanctions that will further isolate Russia from the world economy," Von der Leyen said at the end of the meeting of European leaders in Versailles (France), in which the president of the European Council, Charles Michel, and the French president, Emmanuel Macron, took part. 

Macron, for his part, said that "in a few hours" he will speak by telephone with Russian President Vladimir Putin, together with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and warned that there will be "massive sanctions" against Moscow if the Russian invasion of Ukraine does not cease.

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"We are ready to sanction more than we have done so far", said the French president, who avoided giving details about which sectors could be affected, since "strategic ambiguity favours us", although he stressed that "nothing is ruled out".

For the EC President, "this fourth package of sanctions is our way of responding to the atrocities committed" in Ukraine by Putin.

Von der Leyen cited that "in just fifteen days of sanctions, the Russian economy is in free fall", with the Russian rouble having depreciated significantly against the euro; inflation having risen; and Russian sovereign debt considered by rating agencies as "junk bond", the lowest rung of the ladder.

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