The EU Council approved the 9th package of sanctions against Russia, said the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.

?It provides for sanctions against almost 200 individuals and organizations involved in attacks on civilians and abduction of children; ?New export control measures and restrictions on dual-purpose goods and technologies, as well as goods and technologies that can contribute to the technological improvement of the Russian defense and security sector, are being introduced; ?In order to avoid circumvention of sanctions, the list also includes some Russian controlled organizations located in the illegally annexed Crimea or Sevastopol;

?Freeze the assets of two more Russian banks and add the Russian Bank for the Development of Regions to the list of Russian state-owned or controlled organizations that are subject to a complete ban on operations;

?The process of suspending the broadcasting licenses of four media outlets: NTV/NTV Mir, Russia 1, REN TV and Channel 1 has been initiated.