Since the illegal, unprovoked and unjustified further invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces on 24 February, Ireland has stood in unwavering solidarity with the people and government of Ukraine.
In recent days, the EU has imposed a series of sanctions in response to Russia’s aggression, including by closing EU airspace to all Russian aircraft; freezing the assets of the Russian Central Bank in the EU; expelling key Russian banks from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications (SWIFT) system; sanctioning more than 500 individual oligarchs, Government Ministers, senior army and security officials, and heads of state institutions; and sanctioning key figures and Russian media outlets that are disseminating disinformation across the EU.
The principal rationale of these actions is to incentivise Russia to find a political solution to the conflict that President Putin has created, and to reduce the funding available to Russia to continue its illegal actions in Ukraine.
There has been widespread reporting of certain very visible assets, such as superyachts, being confiscated by authorities in some EU Member states. Without knowing the full facts of these incidents, if these seizures have taken place in order to comply with EU sanctions, this is because the sanctions require that the assets of those on the sanctions list be frozen with immediate effect. Intangible assets such as bank accounts will have been frozen across the EU also. Such asset freezing measures do not permit the appropriation of assets by EU Member States, but rather require that listed persons or entities do not have access to their assets for so long as a sanctions regime persists. EU sanctions are not intended to be permanent, but rather are designed to incentivise a change in behaviour that will ultimately lead to sanctions being lifted.
Separately, Ireland has provided €10 million in humanitarian aid and medical supplies for those affected by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
In addition, the EU has agreed a package of €500 million in military assistance for Ukraine under the European Peace Facility; €450 million for lethal equipment and €50 million for non-lethal equipment. Ireland constructively abstained on the lethal equipment package. We will pay our full share (approx €10 million) and our funding will go only to non-lethal elements.
We will continue to engage with European Union, United Nations and other partners to provide assistance to Ukraine.
