EU prepares new sanctions against Russia, Belarus: report

A new sanctions package against Russia and Belarus has been prepared by the European Commission and is set to be discussed Tuesday morning, Reuters reported, citing three sources.

The sanctions are set to add oligarchs and lawmakers from the Russian Parliament’s upper house to a European Union blacklist, one source told the news outlet.

The people said the sanctions also include prohibiting naval equipment and software exports from the EU to Russia and adding three Belarusian banks to be banned from the SWIFT international banking system, among other aspects. 

The EU executive has adopted the draft sanctions and European Union ambassadors are scheduled to meet to discuss the package, one source told Reuters.

The sanctions package would mark the first time the EU has banned Belarusian banks from SWIFT; seven Russian banks have already been banned from SWIFT from the EU, the news outlet noted.

The report comes as the governments and businesses continue to try to isolate Russia and its ally Belarus whom officials believe is complicit in Russia’s invasion, economically. President Biden is set to announce Tuesday that the U.S. is banning Russian imports of oil, natural gas and coal.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers has signaled that they would be in favor of banning Russian oil and energy imports despite the likelihood of higher gas prices.

“We are going to see price increases,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said last week. “Nobody wants to see that. And this is going to hurt. But we all need to recognize Europe is in the midst of a war with Russia now. Innocent people are dying, children are dying. We have not been in as volatile as a situation as anytime in my life. And so we are looking right now from a very short window.”

The Hill has reached out to the European Commission for comment.