The European Union has banned the export of printing presses, spares, inks, films and plates in the latest round of sanctions to be imposed on Russia.
The fifth round of sanctions also forbids the sale of pulp and papers to the country among a host of activity intended to hit the country’s economy. The increase in the sanctions are intended as a response to the massacres in Bucha and elsewhere.
“These latest sanctions were adopted following the atrocities committed by Russian armed forces in Bucha and other places under Russian occupation. The aim of our sanctions is to stop the reckless, inhuman and aggressive behaviour of the Russian troops and make clear to the decision makers in the Kremlin that their illegal aggression comes at a heavy cost,” says Josep Borrell, the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.
The restrictions identify both coated and uncoated papers, lightweight coated papers, carton boards and kraft papers. Many of the companies responsible for these products have already volunteered to cease trading with companies in Russia,
The machinery named include machinery for finishing paper, bookbinding machines and parts, carton making equipment, offset presses, letterpress (other than roll fed for some reason), flexo, gravure and other parts. The action also picks out duplicating machines (though not photocopying machines), mailing and inserting machinery along with film and film processors.
Meanwhile in Ukraine itself, a postage stamp with the direct message of soldiers on Snake Island at the start of the war towards a Russian ship has become a best seller after the Moskva ship was sunk, leading to queues outside post offices to buy commemorative copies. In all 1 million stamps have been sold, most in the days since the ship went down, prompting renewed bombing of Kyiv. “We wanted to print more but the bombing last night in Kyiv affected the work of the factory and we did not manage to print the necessary quantity,” Ukrainian postal service chief Igor Smelyansky has said.
Numerous other printers in the country are producing stickers which are sold in bars, cafes and restaurants with the money raised directed to the armed forces. Around 500 sheets of stickers are produced in each volume.
Another printer in the capital city, unable to produce advertising hoarding posters for leading brands, has instead been printing patriotic and motivational messages both for the poster sites and as leaflets for distribution in the armed forces.
A Lithuanian online T-shirt printer received an order it simply had to refuse from a customer in that country. Tomas Augulis, head of Marskineliai.lt, says the company received an order for the T-shirt emblazoned with the the letter Z. Rather than print the job with the ultra nationalist Russian symbol, the company instead printed the job with artwork inspired by the Ukrainian defiance against the Russian navy. The company also returned the money, saying that the redesigned T-shirt should be considered a gift.
