Secretary of State for European Affairs Clement Beaune recalled that the first package of measures will affect the ability of Russia and its banks to finance themselves in European markets, amid the Western crusade, led by the United States, against Moscow with Ukraine as a spearhead.

The legislators of the State Duma (Lower House of Parliament) are also included in the sanctions outlined on Tuesday, which were agreed in Paris after the Ministerial Forum for Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific Region, organized by France, which takes over the rotating president of the Council of the EU.

On Monday, February 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the decree to recognize the independence of the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Lugansk in Ukraine’s Donbas region, claiming that Kiev has no interest in complying with the 2014 and 2015 Minsk Accords to resolve the territorial conflict.

The crisis in eastern Ukraine erupted in 2014 following a coup d’Etat that brought anti-Russian authorities to power, in tune with NATO’s efforts to get its military presence closer to Russia’s borders, for which Moscow demanded security guarantees to the United States and its allies in the current escalation, which were ignored.

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