Friday 25 February 2022

POLITICO

POLITICO

Champions League final moves from Russia to Paris

Posted: 25 Feb 2022 01:33 AM PST

UEFA is moving May’s Champions League final to Paris from St. Petersburg.

European football’s showpiece event will be held at the Stade de France, for the first time since 2006, after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine left St. Petersburg as an untenable host city for the game.

Multiple officials said that French President Emmanuel Macron was heavily involved Thursday afternoon in talks with UEFA chief Aleksander Čeferin about moving the final to France — an idea that Čeferin conceived and supported. Čeferin traveled to Paris on Thursday to meet Macron and finalize the deal.

For Macron, officials said, swiping the final from Russia was seen as a coup — following a controversial call in the early hours of Monday in which the French president thought he’d secured continuing diplomatic talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Hours later, Putin took the step of recognizing the Donetsk and Luhansk so-called People’s Republics in eastern Ukraine.

‘Go fuck yourself,’ Ukrainian soldiers on Snake Island tell Russian ship before being killed

Posted: 25 Feb 2022 12:52 AM PST

Russian forces have killed all the soldiers who were defending Zmiinyi Island, also known as Snake Island, located in the Black Sea.

In a final display of defiance, a Ukrainian soldier told the warship that came to attack them: “Go fuck yourself.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy confirmed overnight that Snake Island, which is small but strategically important for the defense of Ukraine’s territorial waters and among its southernmost settlements, had been captured by Russia.

“All the defenders of Snake Island died, but they did not surrender," Zelenskiy said in a video posted on Telegram, adding that they would be named “heroes of Ukraine.”

Earlier, audio had emerged of the Ukrainians defending Snake Island receiving a warning from Russian forces before the attack.

"I am a Russian warship. I suggest you lay down your arms and surrender to avoid bloodshed and unnecessary victims, or you will be bombed," the Russians said.

A male Ukrainian soldier is heard saying “So that’s it … Should I tell them to fuck themselves?”

A female Ukrainian soldier responds: “Well, just in case.”

The male soldier then says: “Warship, go fuck yourself.”

Donald Tusk: EU capitals ‘disgraced themselves’

Posted: 25 Feb 2022 12:49 AM PST

Former European Council President Donald Tusk said Friday that some EU governments had “disgraced themselves” by refusing to impose the toughest possible sanctions on Russia even as President Vladimir Putin was bombing Kyiv.

The remarkable rebuke by Tusk, who led meetings of the Council as president from 2014 to 2019, revealed deep divisions among Europe’s political elite at what is perhaps the Continent’s most acute moment of crisis since World War II.

“In this war everything is real: Putin's madness and cruelty, Ukrainian victims, bombs falling on Kyiv,” Tusk posted on Twitter. “Only your sanctions are pretended [sic]. Those EU governments which blocked tough decisions (i.a. Germany, Hungary, Italy) have disgraced themselves.”

Tusk’s slap at Germany, the EU’s largest, richest member state and de facto leader of the union of 27 states, came hours after Chancellor Olaf Scholz led a group of leaders who blocked tougher sanctions during an emergency summit in Brussels.

In doing so, the EU heads of state and government rejected a personal appeal from Ukraine’s top leaders, including President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, for the toughest possible sanctions against Moscow, including cutting Russia off from the SWIFT international payments system.

The United States, Britain and some EU capitals have all indicated they support such a ban, but some countries — including Germany Italy, and Austria — said they wanted to keep some further sanctions ammunition in reserve.

In fact, Putin has made clear that sanctions imposed by the West will not stop him. The vicious military attack on Ukraine continued all across the country through the night and into Friday morning.

The European Council generally operates on the basis of unanimous consent, and particularly in emergency situations any one country is typically able to block a policy initiative, at least temporarily.

In a statement following Thursday night’s summit, Tusk’s successor, Charles Michel, insisted that the EU was trying to help Ukraine. “With international partners, we are acting decisively to support Ukraine with political, financial & humanitarian assistance,” Michel, who is a former Belgian prime minister, tweeted.

But Zelenskiy on Friday morning from Kyiv said that his country was fighting alone while “the most powerful forces of the world are watching from afar.”

Ukraine gets SWIFT rejection from EU leaders

Posted: 24 Feb 2022 09:34 PM PST

Faced with Vladimir Putin’s all-out war in Ukraine, EU leaders shied away from imposing all-out sanctions.

Even as they agreed at an emergency summit to what they called a “massive and painful” package of economic penalties in response to Moscow’s shocking military assault on its neighbor, the leaders shunned a plea from Ukraine to kick Russia out of the SWIFT international payments system.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba had made a heartfelt online appeal for Russia to be excluded from the Belgium-based network, declaring that “everyone who now doubts whether Russia should be banned from SWIFT has to understand that the blood of innocent Ukrainian men, women and children will be on their hands too.”

But while the United States, Britain and some EU capitals have all indicated they favor a ban, other EU countries such as Germany, Italy and Austria have signaled they do not want to play all their sanctions cards at this stage. Part of the reason, officials say, is that European countries use SWIFT to pay for Russian gas, on which they are highly dependent.

Arriving at the summit in Brussels on Thursday evening, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz indicated to reporters that the EU should “reserve” a SWIFT ban “for a situation where it is necessary to do other things as well.”

That step-by-step approach won the day, even though leaders heard directly via video link from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. It was also unclear what the trigger for more sanctions could be, given the EU’s own foreign policy chief has already declared the invasion “among the darkest hours for Europe since World War II.”

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki admitted after the summit: "Many leaders share the view that Russia needs to be excluded from the SWIFT system, but unanimity is needed to pass the sanctions.”

Privately, some were blunter about their frustration. “We have to wait until Kyiv is carpet-bombed before we can isolate Putin economically,” said an EU diplomat.

In a video published on his Telegram account Friday morning, Zelenskiy shared a bitter statement on sanctions, saying Russian forces had resumed attacks across Ukraine, hitting both civilian and military targets. "This morning, we are defending our state alone. Like yesterday, the world's most powerful forces are watching from afar. Did yesterday's sanctions convince Russia? We hear in our sky and see on our earth this was not enough," he said.

Earlier on Thursday, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson directly complained to Scholz about Germany’s stance on SWIFT on a call for leaders from the Group of Seven (G7) nations. "The prime minister underscored that western inaction or under-reaction would have unthinkable consequences," Downing Street said in a readout.

At a White House news conference, U.S. President Joe Biden also indicated that the EU was the main obstacle to a ban. “It is always an option but right now that’s not the position that the rest of Europe wishes to take,” Biden said.

‘Maximum impact’

After concluding six hours of discussions in the early hours of Friday morning, EU leaders were keen to stress unity in responding to Putin’s war and to talk up the broad sanctions package they agreed. The measures are expected to be formally adopted later on Friday.

“We will hold the Kremlin accountable,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said. “The package of massive and targeted sanctions European leaders approved tonight clearly demonstrates that — it will have maximum impact on the Russian economy and the political elite.”

The new sanctions will hit five areas: the financial sector, the energy sector, the transport sector, export controls and visa policy, von der Leyen said.

But it was clear that SWIFT was a bone of contention.

Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer said “that the suspension of SWIFT would affect the Russian Federation less than the European Union,” and argued that Russia could use its “own payment system, and secondly, it would immediately switch to Chinese payment systems.”

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said a SWIFT ban for Russia would also “have an enormous impact” on the EU.

Some officials made clear gas payments were at the root of their concerns about suspending Moscow from the system.

If the EU were to take such a step, "that would mean that there is a high risk that Germany will no longer be supplied with gas or raw materials," German Finance Minister Christian Lindner said on the “Maischberger” talk show on Germany’s ARD television on Thursday evening.

Still, Lindner said SWIFT could be included in sanctions at a later stage: “All options are on the table, including this one.”

For Poland’s Morawiecki, however, the strong dependence of countries such as Germany on Russia’s energy exports is the key problem: "We are buying as European Union lots of Russian gas, lots of Russian oil. And President Putin is taking the money from us, from the Europeans. And he is turning this into aggression, invasion," he said.

Ukraine’s ambassador to Germany, Andrij Melnyk, asked why senior German politicians like Scholz and Lindner were suggesting the EU should only consider sharper sanctions if the situation deteriorates.

“What are they waiting for?” he asked. “That tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians have to die before their eyes?”

Lili Bayer and Zoya Sheftalovich contributed reporting. This article was updated.

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Ukraine slams West’s inaction as Russia rains missiles on Kyiv

Posted: 24 Feb 2022 09:00 PM PST

KYIV — President Volodymyr Zelenskiy accused the West of not doing enough to support Ukraine, as Russian forces on Friday unleashed a missile offensive against Kyiv, a European capital of 3 million people.

A POLITICO journalist in the city said air-raid sirens were wailing and that there were repeated explosions. People ran to shelters, while many others tried to flee the city by car, clogging the roads. Officials said that Ukrainian troops were engaging a Russian tank column moving in from the north.

Describing the missile barrage as “horrific,” Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba drew comparisons with World War II. "Last time our capital experienced anything like this was in 1941 when it was attacked by Nazi Germany. Ukraine defeated that evil and will defeat this one."

Zelenskiy said Russian troops were targeting both military and civilian targets. Vowing to stay on in Kyiv and lead the resistance to the invasion, he said he had no doubt that Russian President Vladimir Putin was seeking to depose him with the attack on Kyiv.

"According to the information we have the enemy has marked me as target number 1, my family as target number 2. They want to undermine Ukraine politically by removing the head of state," he said in an address to the nation, wearing a khaki army top.

He criticized Ukraine’s allies in the West for not doing enough to deter Putin. “This morning we are defending our state alone. Like yesterday, the world’s most powerful forces are watching from afar. Did yesterday’s sanctions convince Russia? We hear in our sky and see on our earth that this was not enough,” he said.

The situation for Kyiv looked grave on Friday morning.

Around 10 a.m., Ukraine officials said Russian forces — probably diversionary and sabotage units — had pushed into Kyiv’s northern Obolon district. "Make Molotov cocktails, neutralize the occupier!" the Ministry of Defense implored residents on Twitter.

Ukraine’s Deputy Minister of Defense Hanna Malyar also warned Russian forces appeared to be entering from the west through Vorzel, a suburb of Kyiv. Malyar later warned that Russian troops had captured some Ukrainian equipment and were using it as a ruse to enter the city.

That followed fierce fighting on Thursday when Russian airborne troops battled with Ukrainians for control of an airport at Hostomel, just to the northwest of Kyiv. Russian troops were also making advances on the eastern approaches to Kyiv. The Ukrainian military posted a video of heavy fighting in the city of Sumy, while Russian soldiers were also encircling Konotop.

Ukraine’s Interfax news agency quoted an official saying the advance of a tank column had been delayed by blowing up a bridge to the northwest of Kyiv. The Ukrainian government said it had shot down an aircraft, whose wreckage fell into the city.

Zelenskiy insisted Ukraine had not been defeated, claiming its forces had stopped Russian troops from advancing in “most directions.” He said: “It will not be possible to destroy our character. Kalibr missiles are helpless against our freedom.”

The push for Kyiv comes roughly 24 hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale bombardment and invasion of Ukraine, calling on the country to disarm and drop its ambitions to join NATO. Russia claimed its initial attack was devastating, knocking out 74 ground bases and 11 air bases.

The Ukrainian military said it was holding out against the Russian offensive in the east of the country. Overall, Ukrainian forces estimated that they had destroyed more than 30 Russian tanks, up to 130 armored combat vehicles, seven aircraft and six helicopters. U.K. Defense Minister Ben Wallace said Britain’s assessment was that 450 Russian soldiers had died. Britain also said Ukrainian resistance meant Russia had not achieved its first-day targets.

Ukraine's government confirmed 137 deaths and more than 300 injured. Kyiv also reported that Russian troops had seized the radioactive site of the former Chernobyl nuclear reactor.

"The nature of the military invasion indicates that the main purpose of the Kremlin regime is to block Kyiv, create a land corridor to the occupied Crimean peninsula and a self-proclaimed Transnistria," the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces said in a note.

A senior U.S. Defense Department official told reporters Thursday that Russia intends to "decapitate" the democratic government in Kyiv. Putin's forces are "making a move on Kyiv," the official said, "basically decapitating the government and installing their own method of governance.” 

Zelenskiy has ordered full military mobilization and published a decree forbidding Ukrainian men between the ages of 18 and 60 from leaving the country. 

In an address on Thursday just after 11 p.m., he said Russian "saboteurs" had entered Kyiv and vowed not to flee despite having become a target. He questioned the West's resolve, however, and said: "Who is ready to fight with us? Honestly, I don't see anyone … They say they are with us but they are not ready to take us in the [NATO] military alliance. All of them are afraid."

Kyiv's mayor, the former heavyweight boxing champion Vitaly Klitschko, said he and his brother, fellow Hall of Fame boxer Wladimir Klitschko, would fight to defend their home country, telling British broadcaster ITV, “I don’t have another choice. I have to do that.” 

Macron says he spoke to Putin at Zelenskiy’s request

Posted: 24 Feb 2022 07:46 PM PST

French President Emmanuel Macron said he spoke to Vladimir Putin on Thursday evening at the request of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

Speaking at the end of an emergency summit of EU leaders in Brussels devoted to Russia’s war on Ukraine, Macron said the call with the Russian president had been "frank, direct and rapid."

Macron said he made the call, on Zelenskiy’s behalf, to ask Putin to stop the fighting and talk to the Ukrainian president, who had not been able to contact the Russian leader. Putin has repeatedly refused to engage with Zelenskiy directly.

"It did not produce any results,” Macron said of the call. “The Russian president has chosen war."

He added: “It is my responsibility to take such initiatives when they are requested by Ukraine … and then — even as we condemn and sanction and continue to decide to act — to leave this path open so that, whenever the conditions could be met, we can obtain a cessation of hostilities.”

The Kremlin said that Putin had given an “exhaustive” explanation to Macron of the reasons for Russia’s actions in Ukraine.

U.S. President Joe Biden said earlier in the day that he had no plans to talk to Putin.

Russia and Britain — A brief history, from Navarino to Ukraine

Posted: 24 Feb 2022 07:09 PM PST

Listen on

As Vladimir Putin’s brutal invasion of Ukraine plunges Russia’s relations with the West into crisis, Jack Blanchard talks to the historian and former U.K. Foreign Secretary David Owen about the turbulent history of the Anglo-Russian relationship.

Lord Owen charts the many ups and downs of the 19th and 20th centuries, a period through which Britain and Russia fought side by side in three major wars while also coming close to outright conflict on multiple occasions. He recalls his first visit to Moscow as foreign secretary at the height of the Cold War, and his subsequent run-ins with Presidents Boris Yeltsin and Vladimir Putin while working as an EU diplomat and as a businessman. And he offers a damning verdict on Putin’s latest act of aggression, with a chilling warning too of what it might mean for the months ahead.

For Europe, Putin’s invasion is a before and after moment

Posted: 24 Feb 2022 07:00 PM PST

Paul Taylor, a contributing editor at POLITICO, writes the "Europe At Large" column.

PARIS — Russian President Vladimir Putin's all-out attack on Ukraine is the biggest rupture in Europe's security order since the end of the Cold War. It will have far-reaching consequences for our Continent and our lives. 

The unprovoked use of military power to crush the independence of a neighboring state must be met with devastating sanctions and a long-term diversification away from Russian oil and gas. Europe must also answer Russia's aggression with a step change in defense spending and a strengthening of its eastern flank. 

European countries will have to be prepared to help and support Ukrainian resistance against Russian-imposed rule. The crisis has already bolstered NATO as the undisputed backbone of European defense, despite EU ambitions to build greater strategic autonomy. It has transformed France from a serial obstructor of NATO decision-making to a staunch ally, willing to send troops to Romania to help bolster allied defenses.

It may also make Turkey, which has maritime borders with both Russia and Ukraine, a less obdurate NATO ally. Ankara may face pressure from its NATO partners to use its powers under the 1936 Montreux Convention to deny passage to Russian warships through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits, although Moscow already has plenty of naval firepower in the Black Sea. 

The conflict may lead to new countries seeking shelter under NATO's military umbrella. First in line are EU members Sweden and Finland, a neighbor of Russia. Both chose to remain non-aligned after the end of the Cold War, but they have expressed their determination to keep the option of joining the alliance open since Putin set out his demands to end NATO enlargement. 

Politically, there are already signs of a big rethink under way in Germany, which until recent days was deeply reluctant to reconsider its dependence on Russian gas, or to substantially increase defense spending and make its hollow armed forces fit to fight if required. 

Soul searching and shame in Berlin over the failure to heed warning signs of Putin's intentions or to invest in a modern military abounded in the hours after Russian tanks and missiles began pounding Ukraine.  

Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, who was defense minister until December and had once been touted as a possible successor to former Chancellor Angela Merkel, said: "I'm so angry at us for this historic failure. We did nothing that might really have deterred Putin after (Russia's previous incursions in) Georgia, Crimea and Donbas."  

Germans, she added, had forgotten the lessons of former Chancellors Helmut Schmidt and Helmut Kohl, "that negotiation always comes first, but we have to be militarily strong enough to make non-negotiation not an option for the other side."  

Even more stark was the admission from the chief of staff of Germany's land forces, Lieutenant-General Alfons Mais, who wrote on LinkedIn: "I never believed we would have to live through another war. And the Bundeswehr, the ground forces that I lead, are more or less empty. The options we can offer to our political leaders to support the alliance are extremely limited." 

As Europe gets its act together militarily, the economic and political impacts will be severe, and long lasting. Whether Russia stages a grinding occupation of Ukraine or pulls back after installing a puppet regime in Kyiv, Putin will be a pariah for as long as he remains in power. In Europe, this will mean a painful break in economic ties that will raise the cost of living for tens of millions of Europeans, starting with their energy bills. 

The war is bound to produce large flows of Ukrainian refugees, arriving in countries such as Poland and Hungary. While these are the countries that refused to show solidarity when Greece and Italy faced their own influxes of asylum seekers, EU partners must show greater generosity in sharing the burden now than Warsaw and Budapest did then. 

Sanctions will inevitably entail serious economic pain for EU countries, which do roughly eight times as much trade with Russia as the United States does. But the impact will be uneven. Germany, Italy, Hungary and Bulgaria will be among those hit the hardest if gas supplies are cut off. It will be essential to organize economic solidarity within the EU and across the Atlantic. 

The war should prompt a long overdue self-examination about how Western Europe's banks, real estate markets and sports clubs became laundries for the fortunes of the Russian superrich — often with ties to Putin's inner circle. The U.K. has woken up in slow motion to the long-festering scandal of its red-carpet welcome to the oligarchs and their money, some of which found its way into large donations to the Conservative Party. 

There should also be a reckoning with the superannuated European politicians who have padded their retirement on the payroll of Russian companies and banks with Kremlin ties. A couple — former Finnish Prime Minister Esko Aho and former Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern — did the honorable thing and stepped down from the boards of Sberbank and of RZD Russian railways, respectively, within hours of the invasion. Others, such as former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder — chairman of Gazprom's now-suspended Nord Stream 2 pipeline company — and former French Prime Minister François Fillon, on the board of two state-controlled Russian energy companies, are still clinging to their seats. 

Whatever illusions they may have had about helping build East-West understanding through economic interdependence, it should now be clear to them, and to their former voters, that they are on the wrong side of history. 

Russia's brutal breach of international law should also help discredit nationalist European politicians like France's Marine Le Pen, Italy's Matteo Salvini and Hungary's Viktor Orbán who have gained political endorsement, and in some cases financial support and covert social media assistance, from Putin.  

Finally, a mea culpa: I was among those who believed that a diplomatic solution was possible to avert this war if the West and Ukraine were willing to accept a long-term deferral of Kyiv's bid to join NATO, which I always thought was a bridge too far for the alliance.  

We were wrong about Putin. He claims that U.S. President Joe Biden more or less offered a moratorium in private talks, but the Russian leader had far bigger objectives — he wanted to prevent Ukraine from ever being an independent, sovereign democracy because he sees that as an unbearable threat to his regime. 

All of us have rethinking to do, now that he has spelled that out in blood. Me too.  

Trump cheers, Borrell raps and Putin rides on regardless

Posted: 24 Feb 2022 07:00 PM PST

Welcome to Declassified, a weekly column looking at the lighter side of politics.

This week’s column comes to you live from Longchamp Racecourse in Paris where there’s a special Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe arranged by mediator-to-the-stars Emmanuel Macron as a distraction from the terrible events in Ukraine.

Sadly, all of the horses have withdrawn from the race except for the Russian steed, which is being cheered on by Vladimir Putin — bare-chested, stack-heeled and smirking in the face of sanctions.

Those sanctions have been increasing in number and severity as the week has gone on, but the most unusual reaction to them came after the EU’s first wave of measures, issued before Putin launched an all-out assault on Ukraine with missiles, warplanes and tanks.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell seemed very pleased with that first wave of sanctions, suggesting in a tweet that moves imposed on Russian oligarchs would prevent them from "shopping in Milan,” “partying in Saint Tropez" and buying "diamonds in Antwerp." Bad news, I’m sure you’ll agree, for businesses in the Russian cities of Milan, Saint Tropez and Antwerp.

Borrell swiftly deleted his tweet. Perhaps he wasn’t listing the effects of sanctions at all and was at home Googling hip-hop lyrics that he accidentally copy/pasted into Twitter.

The chief diplomat was last seen on a flight to the French Riviera wearing a designer suit and a jewel-encrusted necklace in the shape of a euro sign, preparing for his cameo appearance in the new video from 50 Cent.

The number of those willing to stand up in public and defend Putin’s actions has dwindled dramatically, of course. But that hasn’t stopped Donald Trump from cheering on from afar and declaring Putin’s invasion of Ukraine to be a “genius” move, “smart” and “pretty savvy” while speaking on a podcast hosted by Clay Travis and Buck Sexton — and with names like that, I can only assume that Clay and Buck are podcasters by day, country singers by night.

The U.K.’s Daily Express newspaper, meanwhile, did its best to calm the tension by writing about the “EXACT [capital letters very much the publication’s own] locations in UK to be decimated if Russia drops nuke on London.”

“EXACT” seems to mean all of London, from Enfield in the north to Croydon in the south. I had hoped that “EXACT” would be more specific, along the lines of “Nando’s on Earls Court Road” or “the shop Fish Universe in Tooting.”

CAPTION COMPETITION

“Awkward moment for the French far right as Marine Le Pen is caught on camera taking off her Eric Zemmour costume.”

Can you do better? Email pdallison@politico.eu or on Twitter @pdallisonesque

Paul Dallison is POLITICO‘s Slot News Editor.

BELOW IS FOR ONLINE ONLY

Last week we gave you this photo:

Thanks for all the entries. Here’s the best from our postbag — there’s no prize except for the gift of laughter, which I think we can all agree is far more valuable than cash or booze.

“I’ve only been caught lying five times. My word is my bond,” by Humphrey Barbier.

Paul Dallison is POLITICO‘s Slot News Editor.

EU leaders agree ‘maximum impact’ Russia sanctions

Posted: 24 Feb 2022 06:59 PM PST

EU leaders have agreed to impose “massive” sanctions on Russia in areas ranging from finance to transport, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in the early hours of Friday.

Speaking following an emergency summit dedicated to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, von der Leyen declared that “we will hold the Kremlin accountable.”

“The package of massive and targeted sanctions European leaders approved tonight clearly demonstrates that — it will have maximum impact on the Russian economy and the political elite,” she said.

The new sanctions will hit five areas: the financial sector, the energy sector, the transport sector, export controls and visa policy, according to the Commission chief.  

“This package includes financial sanctions that cut Russia’s access to the most important capital markets. We’re now targeting 70 percent of the Russian banking market, but also key state-owned companies including the field of defense,” she said.

The sanctions will increase Russia’s borrowing costs and gradually erode its industrial base, according to von der Leyen, who also said Russia’s elites will be hit. 

When it comes to energy, “our export ban will hit the oil by making it impossible for Russia to upgrade its oil refineries.”

There will also be a ban on the sale of aircraft, spare parts and equipment to Russian airlines, and limit Russia’s access to crucial technologies needed to build semiconductors and other advanced technologies, officials said.

And when it comes to visas, “diplomats and related groups and business people will no longer have privileged access to the European Union,” she said.

“Our unity is our strength,” von der Leyen said. “The Kremlin knows this and it has tried its best to divide us, but it has utterly failed. It has achieved exactly the opposite," she said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Commission president said, “is trying to subjugate a friendly European country and he’s trying to redraw the maps of Europe by force. He must — and he will — fail.”

The detailed sanctions package is expected to be approved by EU ambassadors on Friday morning and is then rubber-stamped by foreign ministers in the afternoon.
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