Russia Sanction Tracker: NATO and EU Council Meetings This Week

Despite Russia and Ukraine nearing agreements on ‘critical’ issues, according to Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, sanctions have continued to tighten. In total, five countries expanded sanctions on oligarchs and PEPs as six concluded on exports to Russia. Meanwhile, New Zealand imposed their first tranche of sanctions and Australia added aluminium products to a list of restricted commodity exports.

Countries Within the EU-US Alliance

Countries within the EU-US alliance have looked to hinder the Central Bank of Russia, oligarchs, and PEPs from using international resources (Table 1).

• North America saw minimal changes to sanctions. In the US, the House of Representatives passed a vote to suspend normal trade relations with Russia and Belarus – the vote still has to pass in the Senate and be approved by the President before becoming law.
• The EU added a fourth package of sanctions on Russia, implementing sanctions on a further 15 individuals and 9 entities as well as adding trade restrictions for iron, steel, and luxury goods, which Switzerland has also adopted. Meanwhile, Eastern European countries have moved beyond been keen to enact on sanctions by expelling Russians: Bulgaria expelled 10, Lithuania expelled four, and Latvia and Estonia expelled three each.
• Australia has begun to prohibit the export of aluminium ores, alumina, and related products to Russia. These are key components in the manufacture and development of weapons (Table 1). Concurrently, they joined Singapore in extending sanctions on Russian banks, and a myriad of other countries in extending sanctions on Russian Oligarchs and PEPs. Neighbouring New Zealand has now imposed their first tranche of sanctions. Meanwhile, Japan added to 15 individuals to its sanctions list, extended its restrictions on Russian imports, and has stated it will look to align itself with the rest of the G7 going forward.
• The Extraordinary NATO Summit (24 March) and President Biden’s sitting in on the European Council Meeting  (24-25 March) could produce new developments in joint sanctions, spending initiatives or further agreements to support Ukraine. It is not expected to produce anything from the EU on sanctioning Russian energy, although EU leaders have now agreed to phase out dependency on Russian, gas and coal imports as soon as possible. Von der Leyen proposed a 2027 timeline. The IEA has produced a 10-point plan to cut oil use by 2.7mb/d within the next four months. On a shorter timeline, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that the European Commission will deliver an opinion on Ukraine’s application for EU membership.

Bilal Hafeez is the CEO and Editor of Macro Hive. He spent over twenty years doing research at big banks – JPMorgan, Deutsche Bank, and Nomura, where he had various “Global Head” roles and did FX, rates and cross-markets research.

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