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The EU Council has approved the 17th package of sanctions against Russia, which will affect "almost 200 tankers of the Kremlin's shadow fleet," said EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas. "The new measures also target hybrid threats and human rights. New sanctions against Russia are in the works. The longer Russia wages war, the tougher our response," Kallas wrote on her social media page. In addition to the "shadow fleet" tankers, the adopted restrictions will affect 35 companies, including those from countries such as Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Serbia, Turkey and the UAE, which help supply Russian military plants with components needed to produce weapons, MT writes.
Along with the EU, the UK announced tougher sanctions against Russia. London expanded the blacklist by 82 items, including the Saint Petersburg Currency Exchange and the Deposit Insurance Agency. The restrictive measures also concern the supply chains of the Russian Iskander weapons system and 14 members of the Social Projection Agency. According to the explanatory note to the sanctions, the organization is waging an “information war” against the sovereignty and democracy of Ukraine. In addition, the restrictions will affect 44 companies that help Russia “bypass” external pressure. “These new sanctions will further isolate the Russian economy and disrupt Russia’s revenue streams,” the UK Treasury noted.
Before this, the EU announced the 18th package of sanctions against Russia. The President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen specified that it could include restrictions on the Nord Stream gas pipelines, as well as a reduction in the maximum price for Russian oil. "He ( Russian President Vladimir Putin. – TMT) does not want peace, so we must increase pressure," von der Leyen noted.
The day before, on May 19, the third telephone conversation between the Presidents of the United States and Russia, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, took place. The head of the White House failed to convince the Kremlin master to declare a ceasefire in Ukraine. Instead, Putin proposed to develop a memorandum on the future peace and agree on it with Kiev. It is assumed that the document will indicate the principles of the settlement, the time frame for concluding a peace agreement, as well as the conditions for a possible ceasefire. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Kyiv will wait for the Russian version of the memorandum. At the same time, the Kremlin emphasized that there are “no and cannot be” deadlines for preparing the document.
Meanwhile, according to Bloomberg sources close to the Kremlin, Putin believes that Russian troops will be able to break through the Ukrainian defenses and completely capture four regions of Ukraine – Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhia and Kherson. At the first direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine in three years of war, which took place on May 16 in Istanbul, the head of the Russian delegation Vladimir Medinsky demanded that Kiev surrender these four regions. In case of refusal, he declared his readiness to fight forever.
