The Baltic countries are against allowing some EU companies to continue working with Russians.
Politico, citing its own sources in diplomatic circles, claims that the two countries that did not allow the 15th package of EU sanctions against Russia to be approved were Lithuania and Latvia.
It is noted that the Baltic countries blocked the agreement because it assumed an extension of permission for some European companies to continue working with Russians.
The EU introduced such exceptions back in 2022 due to alleged “difficulties with exiting the Russian market.” However, this scheme began to be openly abused to obtain political justification for not ceasing business with the Russian Federation.
The leading countries of the bloc, France and Germany, were not ready to remove this possibility from the text of the final sanctions document, so the decision was never made. But the European Commission promised to take into account the comments of Lithuania and Latvia when preparing the next package of restrictions.
- EU ambassadors were unable to agree on a 15th sanctions package that would limit the activities of the Russian “shadow oil fleet.”
