Live: EU weighs fresh sanctions on Russia as Ukraine war fuels global crises

Issued on: 18/07/2022 – 06:40Modified: 18/07/2022 – 06:46

06:28am: EU mulls tightening sanctions on Russia

The European Union will discuss tightening sanctions against Russia on Monday.

With the war in Ukraine grinding on and increasingly spilling out into global energy and food crises, EU foreign ministers are considering banning gold purchases from Russia, which would align with sanctions already imposed by G7 partners.

More Russian figures could also be placed on the EU’s blacklist.

“Moscow must continue to pay a high price for its aggression,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said after forwarding the proposed measures.

Brussels is expected to hold initial sanctions discussions Monday, but not make a same-day decision, according to a senior EU official.

4:22am: Zelensky says he raised Ukraine stance on Russia gas turbine with Trudeau

President Volodymyr Zelensky said he had told Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Sunday that Ukrainians would never accept Canada’s decision to return a gas turbine intended for a Russian pipeline because it would encourage more sanctions violations.

Zelensky said in his nightly video address that he had talked to Trudeau earlier and thanked him for his support. “However I stressed separately that Ukrainians will never accept Canada’s decision regarding the Nord Stream turbine,” he said. Handing it to Germany violated sanctions, he added.

Trudeau said on Wednesday that it was a “very difficult decision” to grant an exemption from sanctions imposed on Russia for the return of the repaired turbine, needed for the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline.

But Zelensky, echoing earlier remarks by other Ukrainian officials, said Russia was engaging in blackmail with gas. “If there is one violation now, it is only a matter of time before there will be others,” he said.

12:32am: Russian journalist who protested Ukraine war on TV detained

Russian police on Sunday detained journalist Marina Ovsyannikova, who in March interrupted a live TV broadcast to denounce the military action in Ukraine, her lawyer said.

No official statement has been made, but her detention comes a few days after 44-year-old Ovsyannikova demonstrated alone near the Kremlin holding a placard criticising Russia’s intervention in Ukraine and President Vladimir Putin.

“Marina has been detained,” her entourage said in a message posted on the journalist’s Telegram account. “There is no information on where she is.”

The message included three photos of her being led by two police officers to a white van, after apparently having been stopped while cycling.

12:32am: Zelensky sacks Ukraine’s top prosecutor, security chief

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has sacked his chief prosecutor and the head of the country’s security agency in the largest government shakeup since the start of Russia’s invasion nearly five months ago.

Zelensky said he was firing Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova and security chief Ivan Bakanov amid a high number of cases of suspected treason by Ukrainian law enforcement officials.

“Today, I made the decision of relieving of their duties the prosecutor general and the head of Ukraine’s security service,” Zelensky said in his daily address to the nation.

Zelensky said over 650 cases of suspected treason and aiding and abetting Russia by Ukrainian security officials are currently being investigated, including 60 cases of officials who have remained in territories occupied by Russia and are working against Ukraine.

(FRANCE 24 with AP, AFP and REUTERS)