The EU authorities have taken another sanction against Russia and Belarus against the background of Russia’s military action in Ukraine. The EU Commission has announced the cessation of cooperation with Russia in the framework of cross-border cooperation of the European Neighborhood Instrument: ENI CBC – was intended for countries at the EU’s external borders, as well as the program “Interreg. Baltic Sea Region “- a set of measures for socio-economic development of the region. Stating that Belarus is assisting Russia in its special operation, the Commission also suspended cooperation with it in both programs. The announcement appeared on Friday, March 4, on the website of the European Commission.
“This means, among other things, that no further transactions will be conducted in Russia or Belarus,” the commission said, adding that the suspension would take effect immediately.
The next package of programs was adopted for 2021-2027. There were two cooperation programs for Belarus, namely with Lithuania and Latvia, as well as with Poland and Ukraine.
For Russia there were the following programs: “Karelia”, “Kolarktik”, as well as South-Eastern Finland / Russia, Estonia / Russia, Latvia / Russia, Lithuania / Russia, Poland / Russia. Russia is also suspending its transnational cooperation program in the Baltic Sea region.
The European Commission has also suspended cooperation with Russia and Belarus in joint research programs. According to the European Commission, the total EU funding of eight programs with Russia is 178 million euros. While the EU has allocated another 257 million euros for two programs with Belarus.
Since Russia launched hostilities in Ukraine on February 24, the EU has taken a number of measures and sanctions to force Russia to back down. In particular, EU countries have banned Russian planes from appearing in European airspace and stopped issuing visas to Russian tourists.