New sanctions against Russia were approved by the European Union (EU) on Saturday in response to its aggression on Ukraine, targeting more officials and organisations accused of supporting the war, spreading propaganda or supplying drones. The new sanctions package included freezing the assets of three more Russian banks and seven Iranian entities, which perceived to be supporting the Russian military industry, either directly or indirectly. The EU's Swedish presidency stated that the sanctions included also persons, who are involved in political or military decision-making. The sanctions have the goal of undermining the Russian economy and were announced one day following the first anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The delay can be seen a sign of how hard it is for the bloc to agree on new restrictive measure. Economic sanctions are negatively influencing the economies of Europe as well as Russia. The EU had already imposed sanctions on President Vladimir Putin and government ministers, in addition to more than 1300 other officials believed to be loyal to Putin or responsible for war crimes. The 27-nation bloc had also frozen the assets of more than 170 organizations. The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed his gladness with new sanctions introduced, stating that "sanctions will continue to be introduced so that nothing remains of the potential of Russian aggression." Zelenskyy also added that it will be targeting "the defence industry and the financial sector of the terrorist state and against the propagandists who drowned Russian society in lies and are trying to spread their lies onto the whole world."
