According to Bloomberg, the European Union is proposing to impose sanctions against more than a dozen individuals and three legal entities as part of the first package of measures aimed at Russia for its disinformation operations and other hybrid activities.
The proposed sanctions will affect several employees and groups of Russian intelligence, as well as government officials and media entrepreneurs.
More sanctions on Belarus are also being considered, with roughly twenty-five individuals facing charges of human rights violations or those who stand to gain financially from their connections to Alexander Lukashenko’s dictatorship, the self-proclaimed president of the Republic of Belarus.
EU foreign ministers intend to approve these restrictions at a meeting in Brussels on Monday ahead of elections scheduled for next month in Belarus.
New sanctions against Russia for disinformation are being considered as the EU has agreed on the 15th package of sanctions against Russia due to its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which concerns more than 45 oil tankers of the so-called shadow fleet, as well as several Chinese companies accused of helping Moscow develop strike drones.
So far, according to Denis Cenusa, an analyst from Geopolitics and Security Studies Center, GSSC (previously known as Eastern Europe Studies Centre, EESC) based on https://finance.ec.europa.eu/, the EU has imposed the following list of sanctions on Russian media for disinformation related to the Russian aggression against Ukraine:
| Sanctions Packages | Date |
| 3rd package – 2 media outlets (Russia Today and Sputnik) | 28 February, 2022 |
| 6th package – 3 media outlets (Rossiya RTR/RTR Planeta, Rossiya 24/Russia 24, and TV Centre International) | 3 June, 2022 |
| 9th package – 4 media outlets (NTV, Pervyi Kanal, Rossiya 1 and REN TV) | 16 December, 2022 |
| 10th package – 2 media outlets | 25 February, 2023 |
| 11th package – 5 media outlets | 23 June, 2023 |
| Sanctions against disinformation – 4 media outlets (Voice of Europe, RIA Novosti, Izvestia and Rossiyskaya Gazeta) | 17 May, 2024 |
| 14th package – prohibition on financing from Russian states and its proxies of political parties, NGOs and media in the EU. | 24 June, 2024 |
| Banned Russian media outlets:1) Izvestia; 2) Katehon; 3) New Eastern Outlook; 4) NTV/NTV Mir; 5) Oriental Review; 6) Pervyi Kanal; 7) REN TV; 8) RIA Novosti; 9) Russia Today; 10) Subsidiaries of Russia Today; 11) Rossiya RTR / RTR Planeta; 12) Rossiya 24 / Russia 24; 13) Rossiya 1; 14) Rossiyskaya Gazeta; 15) Spas TV Channel Sputnik; 16) Subsidiaries of Sputnik; 17) Tsargrad TV Channel; 18) TV Centre International; 19) Voice of Europe | |
It is also important to note that the European Commission targets with sanctions only the disinformation and information manipulation actions against the EU and its Member States, not targeting freedom of opinion:
“The sanctions do not target freedom of opinion. They include specific safeguards for freedom of expression and journalistic activities. The measures do not prevent the sanctioned outlets and their staff from carrying out other activities in the Union other than broadcasting, such as research and interviews.
The measures should be maintained until the aggression against Ukraine is put to an end, and until the Russian Federation and its associated outlets cease to conduct disinformation and information manipulation actions against the EU and its Member States.”
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