Estonian Prime Minister Kaia Kallas said that it is necessary to effectively isolate Russia from the free world. According to her, Russian and Belarusian banks should be disconnected from the SWIFT system, the trade and circulation of cryptocurrencies in Russia should be limited, and European ports should be closed to Russian ships.
New means will be invented to paralyze the Russian war machine, she added. She said that the security situation required rapid changes throughout the European Union and in Estonian defense policy. She said that the Estonian government is increasing defense spending to 2.45% of GDP.
American assistance is critical to ending the war, Kallas said, and the democratic world must demonstrate its resolve.
– Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev is said to have told Russian President Putin that sooner or later the West will get tired of fighting Russia and imposing sanctions. […] We will prove the Russians wrong,” the Estonian prime minister said.
New package of sanctions against Russia. What has the European Commission agreed on?
There is a draft of a new package of European Union sanctions against Russia for attacking Ukraine and Belarus for complicity. The Brussels correspondent of the Polish radio Beata Plometska found that after yesterday’s discussion by the ambassadors of the EU countries, the European Commission has developed a fourth package of restrictions.
According to the Brussels correspondent of Polish Radio, the EU wants to ban the export to Russia of technologies and equipment used in the maritime sector. He intends to impose additional restrictions on Russian oligarchs. In addition, three Belarusian banks will be disconnected from the SWIFT global financial settlement system.
However, the European Commission has not taken a decision to include more Russian banks in the package of sanctions, which will be disconnected from the SWIFT system, although this possibility was discussed yesterday, or to close European ports for Russian ships.
The package of sanctions will now be considered by European leaders at a summit in Paris. The two-day leaders’ meeting will begin the day after tomorrow.