Press review: Why N. Korea recognized Donbass and Kazakhstan to lure firms exiting Russia

Top stories from the Russian press on Friday, July 15th

Some European countries have proposed a gradual gas embargo against Russia yet so far this idea is not supported by the majority, sources in the European Parliament told Izvestia, noting that with the seventh sanctions package, the EU intends to plug any loopholes on sidestepping the current restrictions, and wants to embargo Russian gold. On July 14, EU envoys resumed talks on the Russia-targeted sanctions. Expectations are that the EU will officially present the new package next week, Qazet.az reports.

Slovak MEP Milan Uhrik told the newspaper that within the framework of the discussion on the sanctions, EU members are considering mechanisms to cap prices on Russian oil, that is, the EU would allow Russia to export it though at a lower price set by the West. However, according to the politician, the countries are hardly likely to reach a consensus here. The legislator assured Izvestia that the package is unlikely to include new serious restrictions, noting that the new measures will probably review all the previous sanctions and remove possible loopholes, if any.

Program Director of the Russian International Affairs Council Ivan Timofeev told the newspaper that there had been no practice of secondary sanctions in the EU so right now it is difficult to predict what this loophole issue means.

"To a certain degree, it is strange that a separate package of mechanisms on loopholes is needed. What will be included there is open to debate. For example, the US has far-reaching experience here. They used end-point sanctions against those who helped bypass them: they employed administrative and criminal prosecution measures. In the EU’s practice, only some members have such enforcement measures in their arsenal," the expert noted.

He added that the situation with Kaliningrad is a separate issue which had been partially eased yet this has no significance in the context of other sanctions. "The EU does not want this problem to be advertised now and provided this guidance on interpreting its sanctions which is less radical than that of Vilnius," the expert concluded.