European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen proposed a new sanctions package on Sept. 28 in response to Russia's recent escalation of its war against Ukraine.
The package proposes to introduce a price cap for Russian oil sold to third countries, which "will help reduce Russia's revenues on the one hand and it will keep global energy markets stable on the other hand," according to von der Leyen.
The Commission also proposes further import bans that will "deprive Russia of an additional 7 billion euros in revenues." The package is also set to extend the list of products banned from being exported to Russia, aiming "to deprive the Kremlin's military complex of key technologies," well as target new Russian individuals and entities.
In addition, the Commission introduces a new category of sanctions, aimed to step up the EU's efforts to crack down on circumvention of sanctions by targeting those individuals who circumvent them.
In her statement, von der Leyen condemned Moscow's sham referendums on joining Russia that were held in the occupied parts of four Ukrainian regions on Sept. 23-27. She also said that the mobilization in Russia and Russian President Vladimir Putin's recent threats to use nuclear weapons are "further steps on the escalation path."
"We do not accept the sham referendums nor any kind of annexation in Ukraine. And we are determined to make the Kremlin pay the price for this further escalation," the official said.
On Sept. 28, Russia declared a 98% secession support rate in illegal referendums held at gunpoint in the occupied territories in Ukraine.
Moscow is expected to use these "results" as a pretext to illegally annex parts of Ukraine's Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia oblasts, as it did with Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in 2014.
