EU leaders came to a political deal late Monday night to impose sanctions on most Russian oil imports, agreeing to ban more than 2/3 of Russian oil export to the EU, cutting a huge source of financing for its war machine, European Council President Charles Michel tweeted from a leaders’ summit in Brussels.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen tweeted that the agreement will effectively cut around 90% of oil imports from Russia by the end of 2022, though she announced earlier this month the compromise will allow Russia’s pipeline oil exports to the bloc to continue temporarily, while seaborne shipments are blocked by the end of the year.
This move was crucial to bring landlocked Hungary on board on the decision that required consensus after the country, which argued its economy would be destroyed by a blanket ban, held up the proposed move for several weeks.
EU diplomats said that Hungary has also ensured an emergency provision to ensure the security of its supply should their pipeline deliveries are cut off.
The diplomats also said that Germany and Poland – which could benefit from the pipeline exemption – will de facto shut down the northern Druzhba pipeline, while the southern leg of the pipeline, which delivers oil to Slovakia, Hungary and the Czech Republic, will close as soon as possible, as confirmed by an Elysée official.
The Czech Republic also got an 18-month exemption from the ban to cover the resale of oil products.
The embargo on Russian oil would be one of Europe’s most significant steps in restricting the revenue available to President Putin to wage war in Ukraine.
However, the Council of the European Union must still formally agree on the sanctions that part of new sanctions package on Moscow worked out at a summit dedicated to helping Ukraine with a long-delayed new financial support package.
The new sanctions package will also include preventing three big Russian state-owned broadcasters from distributing content in the EU, excluding Sberbank, Russia’s biggest bank, from the major global system for financial transfers (SWIFT) – after the EU previously banned several smaller Russian banks from it – and an asset freeze and travel ban on certain individuals.
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