Members of parliament from Estonia, Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, and the United States have called on the European Union to impose sanctions on Russian steel slabs and pig iron.
Ukrainian Member of Parliament Oleksii Honcharenko announced this in a statement, the CFTS portal reports.
"The international sanctions coalition sent a letter containing these proposals to EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell. Estonian MP Eerik-Niiles Kross and Polish Sejm member Arkadiusz Mularczyk signed the document," he said.
According to Honcharenko, the EU has already imposed sanctions against metallurgical goods from Russia. However, the Kremlin managed to secure quotas for another four years.
He added that the 12th package of sanctions eased the previously imposed restrictions, allowing the importation of slabs from Russia until October 2028, and the sanctions on Russian pig iron will take effect only at the end of 2026.
He added that the 12th package of EU sanctions weakened previously imposed restrictions and allowed the import of Russian slabs until October 2028. Sanctions on Russian pig iron will only take effect by the end of 2026.
"Therefore, we propose considering the possibility of a complete ban on the sale of Russian metal and the imposition of tougher sanctions. By selling this metal, Putin funds his army, which goes on to kill Ukrainians. We must stop this," he said.
It should be noted that the 12th package of EU sanctions approved on 18 December 2023 imposed restrictions on the import of Russian pig iron, ferroalloys, and direct reduced iron (DRI). However, the ban on the import of pig iron and DRI will only take effect on 1 January 2026. Until then, quotas will be in effect to gradually reduce import volumes. At the same time, the EU extended the permission to import metal slabs and alloyed steel billets from Russia for four years, until the end of September 2028.
