The EU countries intend to include some legal entities and individuals from North Korea and, most importantly, from the People's Republic of China in the 13th package of sanctions, which is expected to be finalized on February 19. Previously, the EU avoided punishing China for its cooperation with Russia. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China has already expressed its objection in this regard. However, the EU's high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, Josep Borrell, believes that it is necessary to act decisively on this issue, otherwise Ukraine will lose.
The EU's new anti-Russia sanctions package for the second anniversary of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine is likely to be limited to individual sanctions, but it will target Russian-Chinese cooperation for the first time. The Western press writes that it is proposed to add 4 companies from Hong Kong and 3 from China to the "black list" of legal entities suspected of violating the regime of anti-Russian sanctions by Brussels, along with companies from Turkey, Serbia and India. The document containing these proposals consists of 91 pages and was prepared by the EU diplomatic service. "The Guardian" newspaper quotes a European official as saying that Russia is working hard to circumvent EU sanctions and Europe should do more. The "old continent" must close the loopholes in the previously accepted packages, identify ways to circumvent the imposed restrictions and further reduce Russian revenues. The proposals of the diplomatic service were discussed in Brussels on Wednesday, February 14. According to the press, there was a weekly meeting of the permanent representatives of the EU countries, representatives of Great Britain and the United States also participated in the event. The outcome of the negotiations was not reported.

Previously, the idea of ​​punishing the Chinese for cooperation with Russia was repeatedly discussed in Brussels. In December of last year, the President of the Council of the European Union, Charles Michel, after the meeting with the President of China, Xi Jinping, said that the EU has prepared a list of Chinese companies, and those companies can play a certain role in Russia's evasion of sanctions. Later, this topic went into the background. Because the EU received assurances from the Chinese authorities that they are ready to cooperate in the fight against evasion of anti-Russian sanctions. According to political analysts, perhaps the EU diplomatic service's proposals were influenced by the analysis of the situation in Ukraine. After his recent visit to Kyiv, J. Borrell announced the importance of strengthening support for Ukraine. According to him, Russia may attack in a few months.
The Chinese authorities have openly condemned this change in the EU's foreign policy. According to the information provided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China, "China firmly opposes the imposition of illegal sanctions against China due to cooperation between the PRC and the Russian Federation." China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs promises that the country's authorities will "take necessary measures to resolutely protect the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises." The statement does not indicate that counter-sanctions are being discussed in this matter. According to analysts, arguing with the EU, one of the economic powerhouses, is not easy for Beijing. Although trade between China and the EU will decrease slightly in 2023, it will still remain very large. According to the General Administration of Customs of China, the trade turnover with the EU in 2022 was 1.6 trillion dollars. This is 8 times more than trade with Russia.

Sanctions against the DPRK, which is economically closely linked with Beijing, can also be seen as a measure against China. According to information provided by "Bloomberg" on February 14, restrictions will be applied against North Korea's Defense Minister Kang Sun Nam and the country's General Missile Administration. They are accused of supplying ballistic missiles to the Russian Federation. It should be noted that both the authorities of Russia and North Korea officially deny the establishment of military-technical cooperation between the two countries. Sanctions against North Korea will be symbolic. For example, Kang Sun-nam will be banned from visiting EU countries, which he doesn't do anyway. It seems that Brussels is giving some kind of warning to Pyongyang and Beijing. According to "Politico", the current president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, insists on the quick adoption of measures aimed at combating the supply of sanctioned goods to Russia.
S. ELAY
XQ