Consistent with the Australian Foreign Minister’s announcement on 22 February 2022, the Prime Minister on 23 February 2022 announced that Australia is working on imposing additional sanctions measures on Russia that are aligned with those that the US and UK have announced. Key aspects highlighted by the Prime Minister for the new measures are:
- expansion of the individuals and entities subject to designated party sanctions (and travel bans);
- sanctions on the Russian State Development Bank, VEB, the military bank Promsvyazbank, Bank Rossiya, IS Bank, the General Bank and the Black Sea Bank; and
- economic sanctions in the regions of Luhansk and Donetsk, targeting the following sectors: transport, energy, telecommunications, oil, gas, and mineral reserves.
The Prime Minister has indicated there will likely be more than one tranche of sanctions aligned with the sanctions identified by Australia’s like-minded partners (namely US, UK and EU).
Further details and timing for implementing the new measures will likely be known in the next day or so.
