NEW YORK, April 23. /TASS/. The European Union is considering the possibility of introducing sanctions against more than 10 companies that allegedly continued to supply European goods to Russia, despite EU restrictions, Bloomberg reported this with reference to the document.
According to the document, such restrictions may affect companies from Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, China and Hong Kong. The document cited by the agency claims that they supplied goods to the Russian military-industrial complex, including navigation systems for missiles, EU-made antennas, as well as components used in military computer hardware
Besides that, Bloomberg notes, the EU may impose sanctions against Chinese and Hong Kong based companies that have allegedly provided Russia with satellite images and other technologies.
According to the agency, the companies being assessed for potential sanctions are based outside Russia but have links to Russian and Belarussian individuals and firms. Some of the firms under consideration have been previously sanctioned by the US, Bloomberg says.
On April 22, Minister of Foreign Affairs and External Economic Relations of Hungary, Peter Szijjarto, who took part in a meeting of the heads of the EU Foreign and Defense Ministries in Luxembourg, said that the preparation of the 14th package of EU sanctions against Russia will begin on April 24 in Brussels at the level of permanent representatives, but Hungary believes such a step is not only useless, but also harmful.
As European diplomats noted, a new set of restrictive measures will be aimed at circumventing previous sanctions imposed on Russia. In turn, Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom said that EU countries plan to include a ban on the supply of liquefied natural gas in the 14th package of anti-Russian sanctions.