By BRUSSELS. Dec 12 (Interfax) – The European Union is continuing to work on the ninth package of anti-Russian sanctions, EU diplomacy chief Josep Borrell said on Monday.
"We discussed the ongoing work on the ninth package of sanctions. The agreement was not reached among the ministers," Borrell said.
Borrell, however, expressed hope that the accord "will be reached this week."
The EU has reached agreement on the future sanctions package with regard to individuals and certain organizations to be sanctioned, Borrell said. There will be about 200 of them in the new blacklist. In particular, sanctions will apply to the defense and legal sectors, the State Duma and the Federation Council, he said.
As reported earlier, the EU has yet to approve the ninth package of sanctions, as EU foreign ministers need to reach consensus on a number of subjects.
The new package may include 144 individuals. The EU is also planning to freeze the assets of Russia’s VGTRK television company, National Media Group, ANO TV-Novosti state-run television company and the Moscow-based Strategic Culture Foundation. Brussels also plans to revoke EU broadcasting licenses from three television channels, namely, NTV, Rossiya-1 and REN-TV.
This new package of sanctions is also expected to stipulate a ban on selling any dual-purpose goods to 169 Russian companies and an asset freezing for two banks: Credit Bank of Moscow and Far Eastern Bank.
