Officials: EU Considers New Round of Russia Sanctions

The European Union is considering a new round of sanctions against Russia in response to its war in Ukraine.

That’s according a report Wednesday (March 30) by the Wall Street Journal, citing comments from officials and diplomats familiar with the discussions.

The new measures include efforts to use the EU’s anti-money laundering blacklist against countries who help Russia get around the sanctions. There’s also been some discussion about adding Russia to that list, although officials say no decision is forthcoming.

According to the Journal report, the European Commission is expected to release a proposal on new sanctions next week. It would then need to be approved by all 27 EU member states.

Russia was sanctioned last month following its invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, with the measures targeting several Russian banks, delisting seven of them from the SWIFT financial network, including VTB, the second-largest lender in Russia.

Learn more: Russia’s Payments System Gets Around Mastercard, Visa Departure

Now, EU officials are considering targeting the four non-sanctioned banks that were taken off the SWIFT system, including VTB, whose assets were frozen by the U.S. and U.K. but left untouched by the EU.

Meanwhile, there are still no plans to list Gazprombank or Sberbank, which handle energy payments to Russia from European businesses. So far, the EU has not imposed bans on energy imports such as gas, coal and oil from Russia.

Officials said the EU is also looking at much broader sanctions against family members of targeted Russian oligarchs to curb their movements of assets abroad.

The Journal noted that in the wake of initial sanctions against Russia and some of its wealthiest citizens, the focus of the EU and the U.S. has shifted to closing loopholes in the sanctions.

See also: Apple, Google Mobile Payments Systems Stop Supporting Russia’s Mir Card

Last week, Apple and Google revealed they had closed a loophole that let some Russians keep using the companies’ mobile payment services despite the sanctions.

“Apple has informed NSPK it is suspending support for Mir cards in the Apple Pay payment service,” the National Card Payment System said last week. “Starting from March 24th, users cannot add new Mir cards to the service. Apple will stop all operations of previously added cards over the next few days.”