EU – Ursula von der Leyen: The Kremlin will be held accountable

“THE EU “It’s united, the Kremlin will be held accountable,” she said Ursula von der Leyenin the press conference after the Extraordinary Summit for Russian invasionadding that the Vladimir Putin tries to bring the continent back to the era of empires and controversies.

The leaders of the bloc agreed in principle on an emergency night summit meeting in Brussels to impose new economic sanctions, along with the United States and other countries taking measures such as restricting Russia’s access to technology.

As Ursula von der Leyen explained, the sanctions are based on five pillars: economy, energy, transport, exports and visa policy.

He also said that sanctions, which also restrict Russia’s access to financial markets, would increase Russia’s borrowing costs and inflation there.

Ursula von der Leyen also said that restrictions on exports to Russia would harm its oil sector by cutting off access to materials needed by the EU for its oil refineries. That would, over time, cause Russia to run out of oil refining, he said.

“Financial sanctions target 70% of the Russian banking market,” he said, adding that sanctions would include measures to increase Russia’s borrowing costs, impose an export ban that would hurt the oil sector and restrict Russia’s access to key technologies, such as semiconductors.

“Bombs are falling on innocent women, men and children, who are afraid for their lives and many are dying – and all this is happening in 2022 in the heart of Europe,” said von der Leyen, stressing that the EU was united.

He noted that European leaders were unanimous in their condemnation of Russia’s “horrific and unprovoked attack”.

“Our unity is our strength. The Kremlin knows this, it did everything to divide us but it failed,” she said.

“We are united, more united than ever,” he said, adding that “these events mark the beginning of a new era.”

He said Russian President Vladimir Putin was trying to “redraw the map of Europe by force. It must (s.s. fail) and it will fail “.

However, while the United States issued detailed sanctions on Thursday (24/2), EU countries, divided over how far they should go, left details to be clarified in the coming days.

French President Emmanuel Macron said in the same press conference that the war showed that Europe must become a real power and be independent in the fields of energy and security.

Source: News Beast

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