VILNIUS – The European Union's ninth package of sanctions against Russia will include a number of proposals from Poland and the Baltic states, Arnoldas Pranckevicius, Lithuania's ambassador to the EU, said on Wednesday.
"A considerable number of the ideas that will appear in the ninth package are taken from the joint Polish-Baltic non-paper, our proposals, and a considerable number of our ideas will be reflected there," he told LRT Radio.
EU ambassadors will discuss the sanctions package at a meeting of the Committee of Permanent Representatives in the European Union, or COREPER, later on Wednesday.
The new sanctions package is expected to include measures in the areas of technology and finance, and the fight against disinformation, as well as "at least a couple of hundred" new individuals and companies responsible for war crimes in Ukraine, according to Pranckevicius.
"We believe that there are still a number of actors, especially from the military structures and the military industry, the political elite, propagandists, law enforcement, oligarchs and their family members, who aren't yet on the sanctions lists," he said.
The Lithuanian ambassador also expects new Russian TV channels and banks to be included in the ninth package.
"Also, there'll probably be a number of new export restrictions, economic measures, sectoral sanctions and expanded technology lists," he said.
The ambassador added, however, that the sanctions will likely be milder than sought by Lithuania, which is among the EU's most hardline supporters of restrictions.
"We belong to the so-called group of sanctions hawks, so dubbed by the Brussels media because we, together with Poland, are in favor of the toughest sanctions," Pranckevicius said.
"Naturally, the average of the 27 countries will always be lower than our expectations, so there can't be a package of sanctions that would fully satisfy Lithuania," he added.
The EU has already adopted eight sanctions packages against Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine.
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