Lithuania pushes for regional sanctions to fortify EU measures
Lithuanian Prime Minister Gintautas Paluckas is urging countries in the region to jointly implement sanctions against Russia, emphasizing that they are only effective when applied broadly.
Prime Minister Paluckas highlighted that while national sanctions will not replace those from the EU, they can still be effective if other countries in the region, like Poland, Latvia, Estonia, and Finland, join Lithuania in their efforts. This was suggested in an interview with the BNS agency.
Without regional cooperation on sanctions, Lithuania alone will not achieve its objectives and will only endure significant losses, the prime minister noted.
The Lithuanian Seimas is working on extending the current national sanctions against Russia for another year. There are also plans to introduce economic restrictions against Russia and Belarus if these measures are not upheld at the EU level. The EU economic sanctions imposed on Russia are set to expire on July 31, 2025.
During the EU sanctions extension process, Hungary expressed opposition, raising concerns that a similar situation might occur in the future. The Lithuanian Seimas first imposed national sanctions on Russian and Belarusian citizens in 2023, which were updated and extended in 2024.
EU sanctions since 2022. Are they effective?
Since February 24, 2022, when Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the EU has adopted 16 sanction packages against Russia. These target specific individuals as well as economic sectors and companies operating in both Russia and Belarus.
The European Union is ramping up its actions against Russia, preparing the 17th sanctions package. During a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg, Elina Valtonen, Finland's Minister of Foreign Affairs, noted that the sanctions are already significantly impacting the Russian economy.
Valtonen pointed out that Russia faces rising inflation, which indicates the effectiveness of the EU sanctions. We aim to encourage Russians to transform their society into a true democracy. We will be their partners, she said, quoted by PAP.
