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The EU will hit Chinese firms with sanctions for supporting Russia

2024-11-26 07:38:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

The European Union has proposed for the first time to hit Chinese companies and individuals with asset freezes and visa regimes for their cooperation with Russian companies that aid Moscow's efforts to invade Ukraine, Radio has learned. Free Europe (REL).

The new measures, which have been laid out in a first draft by the REL, are part of a 15th package of sanctions recently proposed by Brussels, which also aim to hit six companies in China with asset freezes. and a Chinese national with a visa ban.

While the EU has in the past imposed sanctions on Chinese companies as part of Brussels' efforts to combat evasion, those measures involved bans that prevented EU companies from doing business with those firms.

But the new proposal means that this is the first time that the EU intends to blacklist Chinese companies or individuals with asset freezes and visa regimes because they are helping Russia provide goods for the use civilian and military, which can be used on the battlefield.

If approved, the measures would bar individuals linked to those companies from entering the EU and freeze each firm's EU assets.

These sanctions were proposed as Russia has managed to avoid the impact of powerful EU and US sanctions - aimed at crippling its military-industrial complex - by securing vital goods, such as microprocessors, through states friendly third parties or even directly from them.

China, in particular, has played a crucial role in bolstering Russia's economy since it launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Western officials have said that China's help to avoid sanctions has had a major impact on supporting Moscow on the battlefield.

The only Chinese individual proposed for the visa ban is a "Chinese businessman" who represents a firm engaged in China and Hong Kong, the draft document says. The firm represented by him is accused of having "violated the prohibitions of circumvention of the EU restrictive measures regime imposed on the Russian Federation," including companies that are part of Russia's military-industrial complex.

The proposed document contains a total of 54 people for visa bans and 29 entities for asset freezes, most of whom are based in Russia and are Russian citizens.

Among the six firms based in China or Hong Kong that have been proposed for asset freezes, one of them is owned by a Russian citizen.

This company, the draft document states, "has been the largest supplier of sanctioned microelectronics components to Russian companies since the beginning of the war against Ukraine, which are used to manufacture Orlan drones used by the Russian military in Ukraine."

In addition to the asset freeze and visa ban, the new package also aims to hit 33 mostly Russian-based companies that are under export restrictions, but also includes firms based in China, Iran, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates. The document also lists 44 entities as part of an effort to sanction Russia's so-called "dark fleet," a term that refers to vessels engaged in illegal operations for the purpose of evading sanctions.

The draft version of the sanctions package was first shared with EU countries on November 22 and must be approved by all 27 member states to enter into force.