EU has a surprise move with Russia

“The EU has removed the sanctions waiver that allows EU arms manufacturers to trade with Russia,” Reuters news agency quoted a number of sources familiar with on April 14 as saying. after the call of Poland and the Baltic States”.

Brussels banned arms and ammunition exports to Moscow following the annexation of Crimea into Russia in July 2014. However, a provision in the ban still allows sales to be made under contracts signed before August 2014.

French and German arms manufacturers have “taken advantage of this loophole” to make millions of dollars in arms sales to Russia. Citing data from the European Commission, EU member states sold Russia 39 million euros ($42.3 million) worth of weapons and ammunition in 2021 – up from 25 million. euros in 2020, according to Reuters.

However, in the context of the Russian conflict – UkraineEU governments have agreed to remove the provision after criticism from countries like Poland and Lithuania.

In fact, the waiver clause did not appear in documents published by the EU on April 8, which detailed the fifth package of sanctions that the alliance targeted Russia. However, a spokesman for the mission representing Lithuania to the EU stressed that member states can still send Russian-made weapons to Russia for repair before they are returned to the bloc.

The US, EU and NATO in recent weeks have transferred to Ukraine many weapons systems produced by the Soviet Union (former) and Russia, according to RT. Slovakia sent S-300 air defense systems to Ukraine after the US pledged to compensate the country with Patriot missile systems.

However, the Russian military said earlier this week that it had destroyed the S-300 system in a cruise missile attack.

The Russia-Ukraine conflict has entered its 51st day and although the two sides have had many peace talks, it seems that tensions have not shown any signs of cooling down.

Many loud explosions in Kiev and air defense sirens sounded throughout Ukraine early on April 15 (local time) after the Russian side confirmed that its flagship Moskva had sunk, according to Reuters.

The flagship of Moscow, the pride of Russia’s Black Sea fleet. Photo: RT

The development is one of the most significant explosions in the capital Kiev since Russian troops withdrew from the area at the beginning of April, to “focus” on the southern and eastern fronts of Ukraine.

There were no immediate reports of damage following the explosions in Kiev and the cities of Kherson to the south, Kharkiv to the east and the town of Ivano-Frankivsk to the west, according to Reuters.