Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission President, has proposed today a phased oil embargo on Russia, as well as sanctions on its top bank and to ban Russian broadcasters from European airwaves, in retort to Moscow’s invasion in Ukraine, Reuters reports.
If approved by EU governments, the plan will mark a turning point for the EU bloc, which is dependent on Russian energy and needs to find alternative sources.
“Today, we will propose to ban all Russian oil from Europe. Putin must pay a price, a high price, for his brutal aggression,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
“We are addressing our dependency on Russian oil. And let’s be clear, it will not be easy because some member states are strongly dependent on Russian oil, but we simply have to do it,” she added.
However, EU officials failed to reach an agreement on an embargo on oil and oil products imported from Russia on Wednesday, with a new meeting scheduled for Thursday, according to Reuters sources.
Bulgaria, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia are among the countries that have objected. According to a European Commission document consulted by EFE, the European Commission has proposed exceptions for Hungary and Slovakia, so that they apply the embargo one year late to the other Member States.
Slovakia has demanded a three-year exemption period, while Hungary has said it does not support the European Commission’s proposal in its current form, as it would seriously affect its energy security. Hungary could only support the proposed measures if oil imported from Russia through pipelines is exempted from sanctions, said Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto. Bulgaria, for its part, has said it will ask the European Commission for exceptions to the Russian oil embargo. Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister Assen Vassilev said that technologically Bulgaria could do without Russian oil, but such an embargo would have the effect of significantly raising fuel prices. The Czech Republic has stated that, like Slovakia, it will ask for an exemption period of 2-3 years, during which time it will be able to increase its capacity to transport oil pipelines.
The draft sanctions provided for the phasing out of European procurement for a period of six to eight months, until the end of 2022, with an exemption for Hungary and Slovakia.
These two landlocked countries, which are totally dependent on deliveries through the Drujba pipeline, will be able to continue their purchases from Russia in 2023, a European official said. Russia exports two-thirds of its oil to the EU.
In 2021, Russia supplied 30% of crude oil and 15% of EU-purchased oil products, and the bill amounted to $ 80 billion, European Foreign Minister Josep Borrell said.
In addition to this progressive embargo, Member States are also examining immediate measures such as a tanker transport tax, according to the European official.
The new sanctions package also includes the exclusion of other Russian banks from the Swift interbank system and the inclusion of Russian regime propagandists and disinformation perpetrators on the EU’s blacklist of banned people. Seven Russian banks have already been excluded from the EU by Swift. Russia’s largest bank, Sberbank, which accounts for 37 percent of the market, will be among the banks to be excluded, according to several diplomatic sources.
EC also proposes sanctions against Russian Patriarch Kiril
The European Commission proposes to sanction the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kiril, in a sixth package of measures in response to the war in Ukraine, according to a document consulted by AFP on Wednesday.
The new list, which will have to be approved by the member states of the European Union, includes 58 personalities, including many Russian soldiers. Also on the list are the wife, daughter and a son of Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, as well as the head of the Roskomnadzor Telecommunications Regulatory Agency, Andrei Lipov.
The sanctions consist of banning access to the European Union and freezing assets held in its territory. More than a thousand people are already on the European blacklist.