EU Parliament designates Russia as 'state sponsor of terrorism'

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
23 Nov 2022 14:20
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The European Union votes in favor of instating Russia as a "state sponsor of terrorism" with 494 votes in favor, 58 against, and 44 abstentions.

EU Parliament designates Russia as a "state sponsor of terrorism".

The EU Parliament, in a symbolic move for the lack of legal framework, decided on Wednesday to declare Russia as a "state sponsor of terrorism," with 494 votes in favor, 58 against, and 44 abstentions, stating that Moscow carried out its operation, whereby it targeted Ukrainian civilian infrastructures, including power grids and hospitals, in violation of international law.

The bloc does not have a legal framework in place to back the decision up.

This decision reveals the bloc's double standards in dealing with Russia, as previous measures instated by the EU and enforced on other countries, had been violated repeatedly by the member states themselves, including the sanctions on oil and other exports.

The EU originally adopted the US-influenced package of oil sanctions in June with two aims, keeping Russian oil on the market to steer away from price increases and simultaneously limiting Russia's revenues.

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In a report published by Bloomberg earlier today citing a document, the EU proposed delaying the implementation of the price cap on Russia’s oil exports by adding 45 days to its introduction.

The allotted time applies to oil loaded before December 5 when oil sanctions are supposed to kick in and unloaded by January 19, while EU faces an energy crisis following its unpreceded sanctions on Moscow.

According to a senior but anonymous US Treasury official, the price is anticipated to stay stable above the price of production but may be revised every few months, adding that the goal of the policy overseen by Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control was to make the industry guidance easy in an attempt to keep Russian oil on the market.

A previous provision was also softened in the draft legislation, which would have completely banned Russian crude vessels purchased above the threshold from entering European services for shipments of all oil.

The legislation now states that a vessel “intentionally” carrying Russian crude oil or petroleum above the cap will not receive transport services “for 90 days following the date of unloading of the cargo purchased above the price cap.”

Earlier last week, Al Mayadeen information confirmed that the European Union informed the United Nations, prior to the November 11 Geneva meeting between the UN team and the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister, Sergey Vershinin, that the Europeans agreed to exempt several companies from sanctions.

The information revealed that the UN is currently convincing these companies to cooperate with Russia, pointing out that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres informed Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Bali of a plan to reconnect the Russian Agricultural Bank to the global SWIFT system.

The information noted that the transfer of Russian returns will take place through US banks Citibank and JPMorgan Chase.

On November 11, David Beasley, the executive director of the World Food Programme (WFP), said all nations must cooperate in implementing the grain deal since the world needs Russian grain and fertilizers, whether other countries "love or hate Russia."

"This deal is crucial. Everybody has to cooperate, everybody has a role to play here. I don't care whether you love or hate Russia, we need Russian grain and fertilizer around the world. Otherwise, a whole world will pay a price," the WFP executive director stated.

It's noteworthy that French President Emanual Macron last October called out US "double standards" for selling gas to Europe at prices 3 to 4 times higher than it is sold in the US domestic markets.

"American gas is 3-4 times cheaper on the domestic market than the price at which they offer it to Europeans. These are double standards," Macron stated, adding that "it concerns sincerity in transatlantic trade" and that this issue should be addressed.