The European Union is planning to ban the sale of Microsoft Xbox and Sony PlayStation gaming consoles to Russia as part of its next sanctions package, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said Tuesday.
While major gaming companies like Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony suspended sales and services in Russia shortly after the country’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the proposed EU ban would target resellers, including second-hand traders, who send gaming consoles to Russia, the Financial Times reported.
“We are really looking into all the types of things that help Russia to wage this war to put them on the sanctions list,” Kallas told reporters. “Even the consoles for video games, because apparently these are the ones that they operate drones with,” she added.
The proposed EU sanctions, expected to be announced around the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion on Feb. 22, will also include import restrictions on Russian chemicals and liquefied natural gas (LNG).
Despite banning nearly all Russian pipeline gas and oil imports, the EU imported a record 17.8 million tons of LNG from Russia in 2024. The bloc has committed to phasing out Russian fossil fuel imports entirely by 2027.
The EU’s proposed sanctions package would also include import restrictions on Russian aluminum, FT reported, citing three anonymous diplomats.
Kallas’s comments come after the EU agreed Monday to extend existing sanctions against Russia, following Hungary’s decision to lift its veto over Ukraine’s suspension of Russian gas transit. The extensions are set to take effect Friday, Jan. 31.
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