The EU hopes to ban Russian soldiers from entering its territory as part of further sanctions against Moscow that also target banks, crypto firms and the Kremlin’s oil revenues.
Announcing the proposals on Tuesday, the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, said: “We propose for the first time to ban from entry into the European Union anyone who has served in the Russian armed forces since the beginning of the war. So Europe stays off limit for anyone who has participated in the invasion of Ukraine, as simple as that.”
The proposed visa ban on combatants is part of the EU’s latest tightening of sanctions against Russia, proposals that could be amended and must be agreed unanimously by 27 member states.
“Our sanctions keep biting hard and cutting deep. They are weakening the economic foundations of Russia’s war effort,” von der Leyen said as she introduced the plans, the 21st set of measures since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The commission also wants to maintain a price cap on Russian oil at $44 until January 2027, which would prevent the Kremlin reaping gains from rising crude prices resulting from the closure of the strait of Hormuz.
“We want to maintain the full intensity of our sanctions,” von der Leyen said.
EU officials also want to add 30 “shadow fleet” vessels helping Russia evade western sanctions to its blacklist, in addition to 632 already under restrictions.
In addition, Brussels wants to extend sanctions against cryptocurrency firms that are helping Russia cope with being shut out of western capital markets. It proposes placing sanctions on 20 banks, crypto firms and oil traders in third countries deemed to be helping Russia dodge sanctions.
Estonia put a ban on Russian ex-combatants on the agenda earlier this year. Its foreign minister, Margus Tsahkna, told reporters in January that a visa ban was necessary for Europe’s security.
“Putin will push these people to Europe,” he said, citing continuing hybrid attacks by Russian agencies in the EU. “Can you imagine these hundreds of thousands of ex-combatants, criminals coming here? I am sure they are not going to just work and pay all taxes. No, they are going to do many bad things.”
Von de Leyen also confirmed the decision to move ahead with Ukraine’s negotiations to join the EU. The bloc is expected to open the first set of negotiating chapters – on the rule of law and democratic standards – in accession talks with Ukraine and Moldova next week.
“This basically opens the door to the next phase of the accession process, the formal start of negotiations,” she said.
The latest sanctions proposals extend for the first time to Russian fish imports, with a potential ban on cod and restrictions on trade in other species.
The EU also intends to ban the import of Russian metals, ores and car parts worth €60m (£52m) as part of continuing attempt to restrict economic ties.
EU export restrictions are proposed for metals and alloys used in the aerospace and defence industries, including drone equipment and launch systems.
Missing from the sanctions list were EU alumina exports, which have come under the spotlight since investigative journalists revealed details of how the raw material needed to produce aluminium and refined in Ireland feeds into Russian supply chains.
Alumina is shipped from the Russian-owned Aughinish plant in County Limerick to Siberia, where it is smelted into aluminium to supply Russian factories.
An investigation by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project and partners including the Guardian and the Irish Times revealed that alumina refined in Ireland fed into a Russian supply chain that appeared to conclude with arms firms making lethal weapons used in Ukraine.
The EU foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, was expected to raise the issue when she met the taoiseach, Micheál Martin, in Dublin on Tuesday, a few weeks before Ireland takes over the rotating presidency of the EU council.
The revelations appear to contradict assurances from the Irish government in 2022 that the plant was “not in any way connected to a war machine”. It said in March: “The general principle of EU sanctions on Russia is that their imposition does not have a greater impact on a European member state than on Russia itself.”
The Aughinish plant employs 900 people and supplies about 30% of the EU’s alumina, used in everything from medical devices to mobiles phones.
EU officials say there are no alternatives to bauxite, the primary ore for aluminium, or alumina that are not controlled by Russian or Chinese firms.