Office of the President of Ukraine curious why EU relaxed sanctions against Russia

EUROPEAN PRAVDA – TUESDAY, 7 JUNE 2022, 19:11

Mykhailo Podolyak, Advisor to the Office of the President of Ukraine, suggested that Ukraine would like clarity on why the official EU message announcing new sanctions against Russia has been edited to remove the mention of the ban on European cloud services in Russia.

European Pravda reports that Podolyak made the comment on Twitter.

"At first, the EU Council announces the blockage of EU cloud services for Russia in the Sixth Sanction Package. Then, the EU Council edits the message, removing these references. No clarifications or explanations from the officials. We must increase the sanctions pressure, not decrease," Podolyak wrote.

Anton Shvets, a blogger, reported that the mention of the limits on cloud services in Russia has been redacted from the EU press release announcing that the sixth sanctions package against Russia has been signed into law. Web-archive does indeed suggest that the press release has been edited: on 3 June, it still mentioned cloud services, but on 4 June it no longer did.

Cloud services were also not mentioned in a decision later published in the Official Journal of the European Union.

European Pravda recalls that the EU Council approved the sixth package of sanctions against the Russian Federation on 3 June. The package includes a partial embargo on Russian oil and the disconnection of Russian Sberbank bank from SWIFT. It also includes sanctions levelled against 65 Russian nationals and 18 Russian businesses.