BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union’s top official on Wednesday called on the 27-nation bloc to ban oil imports from Russia and target the country’s largest bank and major broadcasters in a sixth package of sanctions against Moscow over its war. in Ukraine..
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen addressed the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, and proposed that EU member countries phase out imports of crude oil within six months and refined products by the end of the year. of year.
“We will ensure that we phase out Russian oil in an orderly manner, in a way that allows us and our partners to secure alternative supply routes and minimize the impact on global markets,” von der Leyen said.
The proposals must be approved unanimously to take effect and are likely to be the subject of intense debate. Von der Leyen admitted that getting the 27 member countries, some of them landlocked and highly dependent on Russia for energy supplies, to agree to oil sanctions “will not be easy”.
The EU gets around 25% of its oil from Russia, most of which goes into gasoline and diesel for vehicles. Russia supplies about 14% of diesel, S&P Global analysts said, and a cut could push fuel prices for trucks and tractors already high.
If passed, the ban on oil imports will be the second set of EU sanctions against Russia’s lucrative energy industry over its war in Ukraine that President Vladimir Putin launched on February 24. In addition to sanctions on various entities and individuals, including Putin himself and members of his family: the bloc previously approved an embargo on coal imports.
The EU has started discussions on a possible natural gas embargo, but it is more difficult to secure consensus among member countries on the fuel used to generate electricity and heat homes. The region gets about 40% of its natural gas from Russia.
In a sign of the political pressure von der Leyen has been under to extend EU sanctions on Russia’s energy, some members of the European Parliament stepped up calls on Wednesday for the bloc to also focus on energy imports. Russian natural gas.
“It is great news that we are making progress on the oil embargo,” said Luis Garicano, a Spanish member of the EU assembly, after von der Leyen’s announcement. “But as you know, this falls far short of what this parliament wants. In fact, a month ago we called for a total embargo on oil and gas.”
Hungary and Slovakia have already said they would not participate in any oil sanctions, but von der Leyen did not elaborate on whether they would receive an exemption from the sanctions, although this seems likely.
Von der Leyen also said the EU should target high-ranking military officers and others “who committed war crimes in Bucha,” a suburb of the capital kyiv. Ukrainian officials have alleged that retreating Russian troops carried out mass killings of civilians in Bucha.
“This sends another important signal to all the perpetrators of the Kremlin war: we know who they are. We will hold you accountable. They will not get away with it,” von der Leyen told lawmakers.
Von der Leyen said that Putin’s intention is to “wipe Ukraine off the map”, but he predicted that he will fail in his deadly enterprise.
“On the contrary, Ukraine has grown in courage and unity,” he said. “And it is her own country, Russia, that Putin is sinking.”
Banks are also targeted by the EU’s executive arm, and in particular Sberbank. Von der Leyen said the goal is for us to “eliminate SWIFT Sberbank.” SWIFT is the world’s leading financial transfer system.
Von der Leyen said that Sberbank owns about 37% of the Russian banking sector.
“And we will also remove SWIFT from two other big banks in Russia. With that, we hit banks that are systemically critical to the Russian financial system and Putin’s ability to wage destruction,” he said.
Von der Leyen added that those who are alleged to be spreading disinformation about the war in Ukraine would be targeted.
“We are banning three big Russian state broadcasters from our airwaves. They will no longer be allowed to distribute their content in the EU, in any form, be it by cable, via satellite, on the internet or via smartphone apps.”
He did not directly name the broadcasters, but called the TV channels “mouthpieces that aggressively amplify Putin’s lies and propaganda. We should no longer give them a stage to spread these lies.”
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