New EU Sanctions Against Russia To Be Both Personal And Sectoral – Josep Borrel

New EU sanctions against Russia will be both personal and sectoral, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrel said on Wednesday at a news conference following an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers.

“Today it’s clear <..> that we will continue and increase our military support, providing arms to Ukraine. And we will study, we will adopt new restrictive measures, both personal and sectoral,” Borrel said. He did not specify which sanctions he was referring to, noting that a political decision had been made only today.

On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a special military operation in Ukraine following a request for assistance from the leaders of the Donbass republics. After that, the US, the EU, the UK, as well as a number of other countries imposed sanctions against Russian individuals and legal entities. In addition, Western countries began to supply arms and military equipment to Kiev worth billions of dollars at this stage.

On September 19, the Civic Chambers of the Lugansk and Donetsk People’s Republics (LPR and DPR) appealed to the heads of the republics, Leonid Pasechnik and Denis Pushilin, with the initiative to immediately hold referendums on becoming part of Russia. The next day, LPR and DPR authorities announced that the referendum would be held from September 23 to 27. Also on September 20, the administrations of the Kherson and Zaporozhye Regions announced plans to hold referendums on the same dates.