(Source: http://www.aif.ru/politics/world/1205307)

 A new package of anti-Russian sanctions may be approved by the authorities of the European Union on September 5, 2014, as the newly elected head of the pan-European diplomacy Federica Mogherini told to the MEPs, according to Reuters.

“The European Commission intends to present a final proposal on the composition of the sanctions package tomorrow, the decision will be taken on Friday” – Mogherini said. She noted that due to the escalation of the situation in Ukraine the European Commission is considering the introduction of sectoral sanctions in the defense industry and in the field of finance, as well as in the field of turnover of dual-use goods.

Earlier it was reported that the European Union might prohibit their citizens and companies to buy new Russian government securities, extend the restriction on the supply of technologies from oil projects to gas ones and refuse to comply with the existing arms contracts.

The EU has already prohibited its companies and citizens to invest in new shares or debentures of the five Russian state-owned banks (Sberbank, VTB, Gazprombank, Vnesheconombank and Rosselkhozbank), and imposed an embargo on exports of certain types of equipment designed for Arctic, deep water and shale oil projects to Russia. Natural gas production was not included in the scope of the restrictions, because the gas needs of the EU are by nearly a quarter covered by the Russian fuel.

A new round of sanctions may extend export restrictions on technologies for natural gas extraction, as a European diplomat told to Reuters. The expediency of such restrictions lay in fact that they “will affect the gas deal signed between Russia and China” - he said. Another possible measure is the extension of the arms embargo on the existing military contracts. On August 31 the Prime Minister of Slovakia Robert Fico threatened to veto the decision to impose new sanctions against Russia if they in any way endangered the national economy of his country.

Speaking to the reporters after a meeting of the EU leaders in Brussels, Fico called the new sanctions plans of the EU “pointless and counterproductive”. “I do not see any sense in the new restrictions, as long as we do not understand in which way the previous package of sanctions influenced Russia” - he stated.