France and the Netherlands propose that the EU impose sanctions on any financial institution that helps the Russian military pay for goods or technology. This was reported with reference to the text of the proposal by Reuters, and UNN.
Details
According to the proposal, any EU member state may be prohibited from doing business with any financial institution in the world that, in the EU's opinion, directly or indirectly helps the Russian military obtain prohibited goods and dual-use technologies.
EU ambassadors are expected to discuss the proposal on May 15 as part of the 14th package of sanctions against Russia. The EU expects the new package to be ready in June.
According to Reuters, such a ban could be a "powerful incentive" for financial institutions in the Middle East, Turkey or even China not to participate in deals to supply Russia with dual-use goods that are under EU sanctions.
In addition, the EU expects that the European Commission will most likely coordinate any such sanctions with the US, which will make this tool even more powerful.
At the same time, Hungary is likely to be opposed by Hungary and Germany. The newspaper noted that Budapest has always had warm relations with Moscow, and Berlin probably does not want to jeopardize its close business ties with China.
Recall
The EU is considering the possibility of imposing sanctions on more than 10 companies from Russia, Turkey, the UAE, China and Hong Kong for importing millions of euros worth of banned European goods for use by the Russian military-defense complex