According to press report by “Rzeczpospolita”, Poland’s leading business and legal daily, senior diplomats from Poland and Lithuania have anonymously revealed certain elements of the two countries’ joint negotiating position in relation to the tenth package of EU sanctions against Russia and Belarus.
Per the press report, the proposals by Poland and Lithuania include the following:
- Restrictions on Russia’s nuclear sector, including the designation of Rosatom and/or its executives (a move that has so far been blocked by Hungary; the country has contracted two nuclear reactors from Rosatom), followed by complete prohibition of cooperation with the Russian nuclear industry;
- prohibition on trade in diamonds (not yet covered by the luxury goods prohibitions due to Belgium’s prominent role in the diamond industry, and resulting opposition against the prohibition);
- extension of dual-use goods prohibitions (likely, further extension of the list of dual-use items);
- cutting off additional Russian banks from SWIFT;
- ban on additional Russian media outlets;
- lowering the Russian oil price cap (this has been reported by Reuters);
- new sanctions on Belarus.
The paper’s interviewees admitted that achieving the required unanimity among all EU member states with respect to new sanctions packages is a challenging task. The anonymous senior diplomats have also expressed the expectation that the tenth package of sanctions should be ready by 24 February 2023, i.e. first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
