The piece de resistance of these sanctions, which have yet to be validated, is the implementation within six months of an embargo on Russian oil, which currently accounts for around 25% of imports from the 27 member countries of the Union. European (EU).
Refined products would also be banned by the end of the year. It will be a total embargo on all Russian oil, delivered by sea or via pipelines, crude or refined
explained Ms. von der Leyen.
It will not be easy, as some Member States are heavily dependent on Russian oil. But we have to do it.
” Putin must pay the price, and the high price, for his brutal aggression. »
The head of the European executive did not mention any derogations from this embargo, but European diplomats have already been announcing for a few days that Hungary and Slovakia, two landlocked countries very dependent on Russian oil, will be exempt from the embargo until at the end of 2023.
The united front that the European Union wishes to present to Russia is, however, threatening to split in Hungary, where nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has forged close ties with Vladimir Putin, has so far rejected any embargo on oil or gas from Moscow.
We see no plan on how to make a successful transition on the basis of the current proposals and guarantee Hungary’s energy security
commented the press service of the Hungarian government, without clearly advancing on a rejection of the project of the European Commission.
We will not vote for sanctions that would make it impossible to supply Hungary with oil or gas
Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto warned on Tuesday.
” This is not a political decision […] it’s a real supply issue for us, because it’s currently impossible to run Hungary and its economy without Russian oil. »
The Czech Minister of Industry and Trade, Jozef Sikela, judged that there was a lack of a mechanism aimed at distributing the constraints resulting from this embargo on Russian oil.
The proposal does not specify […] how the missing volumes will be distributed equitably in order to share this load, and a proposal on joint purchases and distribution is also missing
he told Reuters. It’s still under study, but for me it’s a problem
he said.
The new European sanctions package also proposes to disconnect three other banks from the SWIFT interbank system, including Sberbank, the most important Russian banking institution. Seven other Russian banks were disconnected from the system in early March, but Sberbank was spared, as was Gazprombank.
According to a European source, Credit Bank of Moscow and Russian Agricultural Bank would be the other banks targeted by this measure, which aims to strengthen the complete isolation of the Russian financial system from the world system
according to Ms. von der Leyen.
The European Commission also suggests banning three other Russian public television channels on the territory of the 27, whether on cable, via satellite, on the internet or through apps
said the head of the European executive.
According to diplomats, RTR-Planeta and R24 would be affected by this decision, which aims to counter the disinformation
Russian. Two other Russian media, Sputnik and RT, have already been banned from broadcasting in the territory of the 27 for about two months.
The European Commission is also proposing to add the names of 58 Russian personalities to the blacklist
personalities targeted by individual sanctions [d’interdiction d’entrée sur le territoire européen et gels d’avoirs].
This would notably include three family members of Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov and the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, who has given many sermons supporting the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine.
Ambassadors of member countries to theEU should meet by the end of the week to decide on this new set of sanctions.
Reference-ici.radio-canada.ca