EU Tightens the Sanctions Vise on Russia as Rubio and Lavrov Trade Talking Points in Manila
Brussels blacklists 32 more Russian banks and freezes the oil price cap for a year — but a diplomatic breakthrough on Ukraine remains just a promise.
By Ingrid "Shortwave" Frost
European Union ambassadors, after previous rounds of talks broke down without agreement, finally signed off this week on a 21st package of sanctions against Russia, according to The Guardian's live coverage. It is a number that tells its own story: twenty-one rounds of penalties, and the war grinds on regardless.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the new measures "continue to weaken the economic foundations of Russia's war effort." Under the package, the EU is adding 32 more Russian banks to its transaction ban list, along with crypto firms and oil trading platforms, von der Leyen said. Brussels is also freezing its oil price cap adjustment for a year, intended to stop Russia's war economy from benefiting from market shocks.
Meanwhile, on the sidelines of the ASEAN gathering in Manila, the top diplomats of the United States and Russia sat down to discuss the war directly. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov "reaffirmed readiness" for a political and diplomatic settlement, Al Jazeera reported. That is Moscow's own characterization of the meeting — worth noting, since Lavrov has said versions of this before while the fighting continued.
Put the two stories side by side and the picture is plain: Europe is squeezing harder on Russia's finances even as its diplomats keep the conversation about ending the war alive in the same week. Neither move, on its own, has stopped a single shell. Readers should watch what Moscow does next, not just what it says it's ready for.
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— Compiled from reporting by The Guardian and Al Jazeera.
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