Ireland, Poland, Baltics push for tougher anti-Russia sanctions

Ireland has joined Poland and the Baltic states in lobbying for more hawkish Russia sanctions, in a sign of widening moral outrage in Europe.

The Irish added their "IE" stamp to a 9-page long list of proposals, including bank and diamond industry bans, circulated in Brussels and seen by EUobserver on 22 September.

The Irish taoiseach, Micheál Martin, also condemned Russia's actions in strident terms at the UN General Assembly in New York on September 21.

"Russia [is] behaving as a rogue state," he said, referring to its plan to annex parts of eastern Ukraine.

Ireland is neutral in military terms, located at the opposite end of Europe from the war, and has a liberal government.

Poland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania are Nato hawks with Russian borders who fear Russian aggression and who have more conservative ruling parties.

The Irish foreign ministry declined to comment on the novel EU grouping.

One EU diplomat described it as a "big deal", which showed how the conflict was reshaping European politics. A second EU diplomat speculated that the US, which has close ties with Ireland, might have urged Dublin to side with Warsaw against more dovish EU capitals.

"We hope even more will join the group," a Polish diplomat said.

But a fourth EU diplomat said it wasn't so surprising, given Ireland's record of "maximalist" positions on human rights issues.

The Irish-backed proposals say Russian lenders Gazprombank, Alfa Bank, Rosbank, and Tinkoff Bank should be cut off from the 'Swift' international payments grid.

A Gazprombank ban would have far-reaching consequences because it handles payments for Russian gas exports.

"It shall be prohibited to purchase, import, or transfer, directly or indirectly, diamonds ... if they originate in Russia and if they have been exported from Russia into the [European] Union or to any third country," the group also proposed to add to the EU's sanctions regime. Russian diamond exports are worth 4bn euros a year.

They called for a "ban on cooperating with Russia on nuclear energy", on the transfer of EU or US cash banknotes to Russia, and on sales of real estate to Russians.

In the services sector, the EU should impose a "ban on using Kaspersky Lab [a Russian cybersecurity giant] technology" inside Europe and stop EU firms from doing IT work for Russian clients, the group said.

On the counter-propaganda front, they proposed taking three Russian TV broadcasters (NTV Mir, REN TV, and Rossija 1), as well as six online ones (NewsFront, SouthFront, Katehon, Strategic Culture Foundation, Fondsk, and InfoRos), off the airwaves.

They also wanted an explicit ban on Russian funding for EU-registered lobbying firms, NGOs, and think tanks.

They said people who help Russia to circumvent sanctions should themselves be put on EU visa-ban and asset-freeze blacklists.

And they listed dozens of high-tech products that should no longer be exported to the EU's war-mongering neighbour, including smartphones, radar equipment, and laser appliances.