Lithuania splits EU's Rosatom sanctions into seven parts, has no plans to step back

VILNIUS - As the European Union mulls a new package of restrictions on Russia, Lithuania suggests splitting the sanctions on Rosatom into separate parts and decide on each of them separately, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis says.

"We had earlier suggested Rosatom as a company, but we failed to garner support due to a very principled veto by several countries. Now we have detailed our proposal, in other words, we have split the proposal into, I believe, seven parts," Landsbergis told reporters at the Seimas on Tuesday.

In his words, the proposal on sanctions for Russia's nuclear corporation Rosatom was built on the "onion principle".

"We can peel it off and leave as many sanctions as can be agreed. Ideally, we should agree on all seven measures: sanctions for board members, new contracts (...)," Lithuania's top diplomat said. "But if we failed agree on one of them, we can peel it off and stick to some smaller compromise option."

In his words, the adoption of even one restrictive measure would be a "step forward".

"We have no plans to step back, we are looking for a compromise, we are mobilizing a compromise," Landsbergis said.

The EU has already announced ten sanction packages for Russia since it invaded Ukraine in late February, 2022, and they cover banks, senior officials and companies.

The EU is currently negotiating an 11th sanction package for the Kremlin, and Lithuania wants to ensure that Rosatom is included in it one way or another.