Reuters: Ukraine Has Developed A Tough Plan For The EU To Pressure Russia
- 22.05.2025, 8:26
Including seizing Russian assets and imposing sanctions on buyers of Russian oil.
Ukraine will ask the European Union next week to consider sweeping new steps to isolate Moscow, including seizing Russian assets and imposing sanctions on buyers of Russian oil.
According to Reuters, this will come as US President Donald Trump has refused to tighten anti-Russian sanctions. The publication noted that the document to be handed to the EU calls for it to take a more aggressive and independent stance on sanctions against Russian Federation as the US role in the process has become uncertain.
The 40-page document recommends legislation to speed up the EU's seizure of assets from Russians under sanctions and send them to Ukraine. Those under sanctions would then be able to demand compensation from Russia.
The EU should consider a number of steps to make sanctions more harshly applied outside its own territory, including targeting foreign companies that use its technology to help Russia and "imposing secondary sanctions on buyers of Russian oil."
"Such secondary sanctions, which could hit major buyers such as India and China, would be an important step that Europe has so far been hesitant to take. Trump discussed this publicly before deciding not to impose them at this time," the publication emphasized.
The paper also called for sanctions to be imposed in such a way that they could not be blocked by a single EU member state.
Remember, after talking to Putin on Monday, Trump decided not to impose new sanctions against Russia, dashing the hopes of European leaders and Ukraine.
The publication noted that the EU and Britain imposed additional sanctions against Russia on Tuesday. At the same time, they are still hoping the United States will join them there, but are openly discussing ways they can pressure Russian Federation without Washington.
The journalists emphasized that publicly Ukraine has tried to avoid any hint of criticism of Washington since President Vladimir Zelensky feuded with Trump at the White House in late February.
The sanctions white paper emphasizes the EU's potential and also harshly assesses the Trump administration's commitment to coordination efforts.
"Today, in practice, Washington has ceased participation in nearly all intergovernmental platforms focused on sanctions and export controls," it says.
Washington has slowed work on a monitoring group to enforce price limits on Russian oil, disbanded a federal task force focused on prosecuting sanctions violations, and redirected a significant number of sanctions experts to other sectors.
The document noted that two potentially major U.S. sanctions packages had been drafted - one by the government and one by pro-Trump Senator Lindsey Graham - but it was "unclear" whether Trump would sign either of them.
The uncertainty over the U.S. position has slowed the pace of economic countermeasures and multilateral coordination, but "should not encourage the European Union to ease sanctions pressure. On the contrary, it should encourage the EU to take the lead in this area," it said.
"Ukraine is concerned that Washington's departure from the Western consensus on sanctions could also cause hesitation in the EU," it noted.
"America's withdrawal from the sanctions regime (would be) a huge blow to EU unity. Huge," a senior Ukrainian government official told Reuters.
The publication explained that the EU cannot fully replace the weight of the United States in exerting economic pressure on Russian Federation. Much of the impact of U.S. sanctions comes from the dollar's dominance in global trade, which the euro cannot match.
Nevertheless, as Craig Kennedy, an energy expert on Russian Federation at the Davis Center at Harvard, emphasized, the easing of U.S. sanctions on Russia will not result in a significant return of foreign investors and investment if Europe stands firm.