The European Union is engaged on a attainable ban on the supply of cloud providers to Russia as a part of new sanctions in opposition to the Kremlin for the invasion of Ukraine, an EU official advised Reuters on Wednesday, noting the measure was technically advanced.

If launched, it’s unclear how the EU ban would have an effect on Russia, as a result of prime cloud suppliers in Europe are US firms, together with Amazon, Google and Microsoft.

The European Union final week adopted a brand new bundle of sanctions in opposition to Russia and Belarus which included an oil embargo, restrictive measures on Russian banks and a ban on the supply of consultancy providers to Moscow.

An preliminary model of a press launch on the sanctions bundle issued by the EU Council on June 3 additionally referred to a ban on the supply of cloud providers, however was later amended to delete that reference. That sanction doesn’t seem within the authorized texts revealed within the official journal of the EU.

A press officer for the Council stated the preliminary point out of the sanction on cloud providers was “a material error”, and declined to say whether or not it might have been attributable to a debate on the matter amongst EU states.

An EU official acquainted with selections on sanctions stated the measure on cloud providers was by no means proposed by the European Commission, however added that the EU was engaged on introducing the ban in attainable future rounds of sanctions regardless of it being technically tough.

In a tweet on Tuesday, the Ukrainian president’s adviser Mykhailo Podolyak stated that the enhancing of the press launch by the EU Council had been completed with out providing a transparent clarification and that it prompt a attainable watering down of sanctions.

“We must increase the sanctions pressure, not decrease,” he stated.

© Thomson Reuters 2022