Today, Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a decree ordering Russia to stop exporting products and raw materials to entities in countries that have imposed sanctions on Russia, and to ban dealings with persons and entities that have been sanctioned by Moscow.
It was not immediately clear how broad the application of the decree, which appears to lead to a halt in trade between one of the world’s largest producers of natural resources and the West.
It came in “Decree of the President of the Russian Federation On the application of special economic retaliatory measures in relation to the unfriendly actions of some foreign countries and international organizations,” according to a translation by Archyde.com, the Russian President’s statement “in connection with the unfriendly measures – and in violation of international law – taken by the United States, foreign states and international organizations that acceded to it, which aims illegally to deprive the Russian Federation and its citizens and legal entities of property rights or to limit their property rights, in order to protect the national interests of the Russian Federation and in accordance with the Federal Law of December 30, 2006 No. 281-FZ on Special Economic Measures and compulsory measures”, that:
– “Federal state authorities, authorities of constituent entities of the Russian Federation, other government bodies, bodies of local self-government, organizations and individuals under the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation are prohibited from conducting transactions (including concluding foreign trade contracts) with legal entities, individuals and organizations subject to sanctions which Special economic measures are applied.
It is also prohibited to conduct financial transactions in which the beneficiaries are subject to penalties.
Prohibition of exports outside the territory of the Russian Federation of products and (or) raw materials, which are produced on the territory of the Russian Federation, so that these products and (or) raw materials are supplied to the benefit of sanctioned persons.
The decree also stipulated that the Government of the Russian Federation would, within 10 days, ratify the list of sanctioned persons.
It is noteworthy that the Russian President signed a law prohibiting Russian banks from sending information regarding their customers and their transactions to the competent authorities in countries that impose sanctions on Russia, its citizens or organizations, in addition to a law to abolish the simplified issuance of visas for a number of categories of citizens of European countries.
