EU tables new round of sanctions on Russia

Bloc should focus on peace-building in Ukraine, Hungary Foreign Minister says

The European Commission proposed its 10th round of sanctions against Russia on Wednesday as NATO pledged to ramp up its military aid to Ukraine in the nearly one-year-long Russia-Ukraine conflict.

For the first time the new sanctions target third countries, with seven Iranian entities to be punished for allegedly supplying armed drones to Russia.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen accused Iran's Revolutionary Guard of providing Shahed drones to attack civilian infrastructure in Ukraine.

"And we stand ready to list further Iranian and other third-country entities that are providing sensitive technology to Russia."

The new sanctions will include further export bans worth more than 11 billion euros ($11.78 billion) to "deprive the Russian economy of critical technology and industrial goods" such as electronics and specialized vehicles.

The commission also proposed further restricting the export of dual-use goods and advanced technology goods, such as controls on 47 new electronic components that von der Leyen said can be used in Russian weapons systems.

"With this we have banned all tech products found on the battlefield. And we will make sure they don't find other ways to get there."

Ben Norton, editor-in-chief of the news outlet the Geopolitical Economy Report, said: "Soon every country in the Global South that refuses to follow orders will be sanctioned by the West."

The new round of proposed sanctions also includes the so-called Russian propaganda machine.

"We are imposing restrictive measures on media organizations, on persons and organizations who are polluting the public space with disinformation and malicious narratives, adding to the military warfare also through information warfare," the European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said.

The European Commission hopes all 27 member states will endorse the latest round of sanctions before the one-year anniversary of start of the Russia-Ukraine conflict on Feb 24.

Hungary is reportedly unenthusiastic about arms supplies to Ukraine and new sanctions against Russia.

"Instead of dead-end and hundreds of millions of euros in arms shipments, the EU should focus on peace-building in Ukraine," the online newsletter Hungary Today quoted the country's Foreign Minister, Peter Szijjarto, as saying.

The proposed new sanctions were announced on the same day as NATO defense ministers ended a two-day meeting in Brussels to ramp up military support for Ukraine in a conflict that is increasingly seen as a proxy war between NATO and Russia.

The NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg urged allies to sustain support and assistance for Ukraine.

Munitions stocks

Speaking about concerns that the enormous amount of ammunition being sent to Ukraine was depleting NATO members' munitions stocks, Stoltenberg said key allies such as the United States, France, Germany and Norway had signed defense contracts to ramp up production.

He urged NATO's 30 members to commit at least 2 percent of GDP to military spending.

"There is a full-fledged war going on in Ukraine, in Europe, and then we see the persistent threat of terrorism, and we see also the challenges that China is posing to our security. So it is obvious that we need to spend more.

"Instead of changing the 2 percent, I think we should move from regarding the 2 percent as a ceiling toward the 2 percent of GDP as a floor and minimum."

In the US, military sending accounts for 3.5 percent of GDP, more than that of the next 10 countries combined.

"What has NATO ever done for peace?" Mick Wallace, an MEP from Ireland, said on Wednesday. "Absolutely nothing. It doesn't interest them; there's no money in it."