(Brussels) EU country ambassadors on Thursday approved a sixth sanctions package against Moscow including an embargo, with exemptions, on oil purchases but waived blacklisting the head of the Russian Orthodox Church , under pressure from Budapest, according to several diplomatic sources.
Posted at 11:18 a.m.
The text must still receive the written agreement of each member state with a view to its publication on Friday in the Official Journal to allow the entry into force of the measures, specified the French presidency of the Council of the EU.
The European Commission had proposed to include on the list of people sanctioned by a freeze of their assets and a ban on entry to the EU the patriarch Kirill for his support for the Russian offensive but Hungary opposed it, believing that it was an attack on freedom of religion.
Budapest had also blocked a total embargo on Russian oil. EU sanctions must be adopted unanimously.
Photo ALEXANDER NEMENOV, Agence France-Presse archives
The head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill
During a summit on Monday in Brussels, the Heads of State and Government of the 27 ended up reaching an agreement that should lead to a reduction of some 90% of their imports of Russian oil by the end of the year in order to to cut off the financing of the war waged by Moscow against Ukraine.
The agreement provides for a gradual cessation of imports of Russian oil transported by boat, ie 2/3 of European purchases. In order to lift Budapest’s veto, a temporary exemption has been provided for oil transported by pipeline, which concerns Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.
Germany and Poland having pledged for their part to cease their imports through the Druzhba pipeline by the end of 2022, in total 90% of Russian oil exports to the EU should be stopped. here at the end of the year.
Under negotiation for a month, the new sanctions package also plans to extend the EU’s blacklist by adding around sixty personalities, including many Russian soldiers suspected of “war crimes” in Boutcha, members of the family of Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, but also former Russian gymnast Alina Kabaeva. Some media and opponents have indeed attributed to it a relationship for years with Vladimir Putin, which the Russian president had denied in 2008.
There is also the exclusion of three Russian banks from the Swift international financial system, including Sberbank, the main banking establishment in Russia, as well as a Belarusian bank.
Three Russian TV channels, including Russia 24 and Russia RTR, will be banned from broadcasting in the EU.
European sanctions, taken since 2014 after the annexation of Crimea, already concern 1091 people and 80 entities.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister for Energy Alexander Novak said Thursday that European consumers would be the first to “suffer” from the oil embargo.