On the occasion of the second anniversary of the war in Ukraine and in response to the death of imprisoned opposition politician Alexei Navalny, EU representatives agreed on the thirteenth package of sanctions against Russia.
The list of people, companies or institutions that are to be directly or indirectly involved in supporting the aggressor has been extended by 200more. In addition to the Russian entities, four Chinese companies and one Indian company are now on the list, according to the Czech Press Agency. The reason for this is that they are said to be helping the Kremlin to circumvent previously adopted measures preventing the purchase of military technology. These are companies producing so-called dual-use products, in particular drones.
The US is also preparing a major new package of sanctions. One day, we may learn whether such measures have worked (in the case of Iran, they have not), but from time to time, the hard reality comes knocking on the door of the enthusiastic politicians who approve them, in the form of reports about how Russian companies have found a back door and how Western companies are trading with them briskly and without scruples. Apparently they follow the famous economist Milton Friedman's motto: The business of business is the business.
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