Ukraine war: EU drone export ban

SMA NEWS – KYIV
The European Union on Friday banned the export of drone parts to Russia in order to deprive the Kremlin of these weapons and prevent their use against Ukraine.
The bloc forbid sending drone engines to Russia and ”all third countries” that could supply Moscow.
This measure is one provision in the 9th package of sanctions approved at a European summit in Brussels on Thursday, which came into force Friday.
Iranian-made drones have been used by Russia in recent months to inflict devastating attacks on Ukraine’s infrastructure, knocking out power and water for prolonged periods as winter begins to bite.
Iran admitted supplying Russia with drones in November but said they were sent before war broke out. Moscow has denied using weapons from the Middle Eastern country.
“We continue to target the economy and those who play a decisive role in this brutal war,” European Foreign Minister Josep Borrell said in a statement.
Elsewhere in the sanctions package, Brussels introduced a requirement preventing EU nationals from holding “positions in the governing bodies of all legal entities … owned or controlled by the Russian state and located in Russia.”
Twelve people in government, 42 members of the Duma (Russia’s parliament), the president and the nine judges of Russia’s Constitutional Court were targeted by the sanctions.
77 soldiers, including 30 members of the Russian General Staff which coordinates missile fire, three members of Putin ally and Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov’s family were also hit, as well as the wife and a relative of the oligarch Yuri Kovalchuk.