Austria agrees to support 19th package of sanctions against Russia – Reuters

Austria has announced that it will support a new package of EU sanctions against Russia. This was announced on Saturday, October 18, reported Reuters.

"Austria supports continued pressure on Russia and will approve a 19-pack of sanctions on Monday," the agency quoted the country's Foreign Ministry as saying.

The vote on the new package of European sanctions will take place on Monday, October 20, at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg.

As before wrote Reuters, Austrian officials say they will not support a new package of sanctions against Russia unless the EU unblocks some of Russia's assets to compensate the Austrian Raiffeisen Bank for fines imposed by a Russian court.

None of the 26 other EU member states supported the Austrian proposal. More than ten countries, including Germany, strongly opposed the idea.

Earlier, the Ukrainian government also refused to support the new sanctions Slovakia. In particular, Foreign Minister Juraj Blanar said that his country is not ready to give up Russian gasbecause it does not have alternatives to Russian energy at a reasonable price.

The European Commission is expected to send a letter on Monday that should allay its concerns, Reuters reports.

In addition, "increasing pressure on Russia and forcing it to peace" with the Slovak Prime Minister By Robert Fico this week, the head of the Ukrainian government discussed in Koschytsi Yulia Sviridenko.

• on September 26, ambassadors from 27 EU countries began discussing the 19th package of sanctions against Russia, but it was not agreed upon.
• New package is to cover the energy and banking sectors of the Russian Federation, as well as, for the first time, cryptocurrency platforms. Key events a ban on Russian LNG as early as 2027 instead of 2028.
• Ukraine and the EU have already talks about the 20th package have begun sanctions against Russia.