The countries of the European Union are closing all their ports for ships flying the flag of the Russian Federation - the fifth package of sanctions comes into force on March 18, said Deputy Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine Mustafa Nayem.

“The EU has closed all its ports to Russian merchant ships and operators. The ban also applies to ships that changed their Russian registration after February 24, 2022,” he writes on Telegram..

The only exception can be made for ships that have issued a distress signal - SOS or its equivalent in Mayday radiotelephone communications.

At the same time, there are negligibly few ships with the Russian flag, everyone registers them in Belize or Panama, including Russians. In addition, they sell few ships to Europe.

Therefore, in order for sanctions to have weight, a ban on ships entering the ports of Russia or a ban on ships owned by Russians in all ports of the world is needed. Otherwise, all “hard limits” are a bluff.