Brussels (Reuters) – EU foreign ministers have adopted a 16th package of sanctions for Russia, which targets an cryptocurrency exchange for the first time, a statement said.
Diplomats last week declared that sanctions include a ban on primary aluminum imports and the sale of game consoles, while listing 73 ships of the so-called shadow fleet used to escape sanctions.
The aluminum prohibition will be introduced by progression, with more than 275,000 tonnes of imports authorized a year before the prohibition took effect on February 26 of next year. Another exception is provided until the end of December 2026 up to 50,000 tonnes under contract before February 25, according to the legislation.
The EU strives to repress the use of cryptocurrency by Moscow to circumvent Western sanctions.
In this package, the EU ferties GUIVEX, an exchange of Russian crypto, which is “closely associated with Russian banks sanctioned by the EU”.
(Report by Julia Payne, additional report by Andrew Gray and Bart Meijer; edition by Bernadette Baum and Alex Richardson)
