Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called for tougher sanctions and enforcement of existing sanctions against Russia during the war. “The tougher the sanctions against Russia and against the entire Russian war economy, the faster the war will end,” he said in his video message distributed tonight.
Zelenskyj once again complained that Russia was circumventing the existing sanctions imposed by the West. It is a central task internationally to end this circumvention of the punitive measures imposed in the course of the war. Russia, for example, imports many goods via parallel imports and third countries. In addition, despite the blockades by the West, the country continues to earn billions from oil and gas exports and is thus keeping its war economy running.
Zelenskyi announced that he had signed new sanctions decrees to harm Russia and, in particular, the military-industrial complex. He did not give any details on the possible effect of these steps. According to Zelenskyj, meanwhile he sees progress in Ukraine’s efforts to obtain sanctions against Russia’s nuclear industry. He again accused Russia of using nuclear power as a weapon, like all forms of energy.
Specifically, the head of state referred to the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, which was occupied by Russian troops and used by Moscow for nuclear blackmail. Zelenskyy said that an alliance of Western countries, including the USA, Great Britain and Japan, is now working to remove the “terror state” Russia from the world market for nuclear energy.
