PRESS RELEASE
The European Union Expands Sanctions Against Russia
Aug. 4, 2017 (EIRNS)—The European Union today expanded sanctions against Russia, adding three more individuals and three companies to the list of those already subject to restrictive measures because of involvement in transferring the Siemens Company’s gas turbines to Crimea.
The three individuals are Russia’s Deputy Energy Minister Andrey Cherezov, Department Director of the Ministry Evgeny Grabchak and CEO of Technopromexport, Sergey Topor-Gilka. Technopromexport and Interavtomatika are two of the companies added.
An EU statement released today argues that
"establishing an independent power supply for Crimea and Sevastopol supports their separation from Ukraine, and undermines the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine. Gas turbines are a substantial element in the development of new power plants."
According to RT, Russia’s Foreign Ministry responded to the new sanctions, calling them "unfriendly and unjustified," and reserved the right to take retaliatory action, even while emphasizing that Russia still seeks to maintain economic cooperation with the EU and with Germany.
"We are disappointed with the politicization of the issue that has been reduced to the absurd," the statement read. It asserted that a "loose interpretation" of the sanctions policy used by the German government, which called for the new sanctions to be imposed, "is in direct contradiction to both international law and the principle of international relations." Moreover, it warned,
"the responsibility for all possible economic costs incurred by Siemens and other German companies working in Russia falls fully on the EU as well as on the German government."
