The European Commission has invited 27 EU countries to tighten sanctions against Russia for the war in Ukraine and decide on a phased oil embargo.
The European Union has prepared a new package of sanctions against the Russian Federation. The plans are to remove the Russian economy of opportunities for modernization and diversification. The main element of the sanctions was the oil embargo, but there were problems with its imposition.
Oil
The European oil embargo is one of Vladimir Putin’s most radical steps in enforcing economic peace. The oil and gas sector brings Russia up to half of budget revenues and more than half of exports, and it sells 70% of gas and 60% of oil and oil products to Europe. During the two and a half months of the war, the EU paid more than 20 billion euros for oil and more than 30 billion euros for gas.
“Today we are proposing an oil embargo. A total ban on the import of all Russian oil and oil products, both offshore and pipeline,” von der Leyen said.
Like the refusal to buy coal from Russia in the fifth package of sanctions, the oil embargo will be gradually implemented. The European Commission has proposed a six-month transition period for oil imports, and wants to abandon Russia’s oil products by the end of this year.
It is possible that Hungary and Slovakia will receive the right to postpone the oil embargo until the end of 2023.
“Don’t be fooled: it’s not going to be easy. Some EU countries are very dependent on Russia’s oil. We have to deal with that,” von der Leyen said.
Hungary continues its strong opposition to the oil embargo. Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said his country would only agree to new energy sanctions against Russia if crude imports from Russia through the pipeline were exempted.
“A phase-out of oil supplies with a deadline next year is a decision that cannot be supported because Hungary’s safe energy supply will be completely destroyed by the package of sanctions,” Szijjarto said.
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Banking sector
The EU plans to disconnect Russia’s largest bank, Sberbank, from SWIFT, impose a ban on the broadcasting of three Russian TV channels, and expand the list of sanctions, including by Russia’s military involved of the killings of civilians in Bucha.
Among the possible targets of the new package of sanctions, the Western press named Patriarch Kirill and the banks MKB and Rosselkhozbank. In addition, the ban on European tankers to deliver Russian oil was also discussed, which would affect exports from Russia not only to Europe, but also to countries that do not impose sanctions, especially the China and India.
The European Commission also proposed to ban Russians from real estate transactions on its territory, Bloomberg wrote in connection with the draft decision. If the ban is approved in this form, the EU will prohibit the direct or indirect transfer or sale of real estate rights to citizens and residents of Russia, as well as legal entities of Russia. An exception will be made for those with residence permits or citizenship of the countries of the European Economic Area (EEA) or Switzerland.
The details and specific names on the new list of sanctions will be known later, only after the proposals of the European Commission (in fact, the EU governments) are discussed and approved by the ambassadors of all 27 countries. in the EU, and the text was published in the official European journal.
“Putin wants to erase Ukraine from the world map. He certainly will not succeed. The opposite: Ukraine has risen on an impulse, and his country, Russia, is sinking,” said European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen, presenting the sixth package of sanctions to the European Parliament.
Source: korrespondent
