KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The European Union’s full ban on Russian coal imports kicked in on Thursday at a time when British defense intelligence said that Western sanctions were increasingly having an impact, even on Russia’s defense exports.
Britain said that Moscow was already strained by the need to produce armored fighting vehicles for its troops in Ukraine and hence “is highly unlikely to be capable of fulfilling some export orders,” in a sector it has long taken pride in.
The British defense intelligence update, highlighting “the increasing effect of Western sanctions,” dovetails with Western belief that the series of measures they imposed on the Kremlin since the Feb.