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“This package of sanctions includes other harsh measures: canceling the speed of Russia’s largest bank Sberbank, banning 3 other Russian state-owned radio stations, and punishing individuals responsible for war crimes in Ukraine,” Michel added.
European Council leaders said the European Union has agreed to ban 90 percent of Russian oil imports by the end of the year.
Ursula von der Leyen – President of the European Commission – said at a press conference that Russian oil delivered by tankers will be banned, while the southern part of the Druzhba pipeline will be excluded. The northern part of the pipeline serves Poland and Germany – which have agreed to the ban. The southern part goes to Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.
Von der Leyen said an exemption would be given to the southern sector, which accounts for 10% of Russia’s oil imports.
“Because we have a clear political statement from Poland and Germany that they, like the others, will stop Russian oil, until the end of the year. We covered 90 percent of total Russian oil during this time frame. The remnant is the 10 or 11 percent rotor that is covered south of Druzhba .for now we have agreed on the exemption,” von der Leyen said.
European Union leaders are due to meet again in Brussels on Tuesday to discuss the bloc’s response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
An EU official told CNN earlier that a ban on all seaborne oil would cover more than two-thirds of imports from Russia.
Europe is the largest buyer of Russian energy. Russian crude made up 27% of the bloc’s imports in 2021, according to Eurostat. That’s about 2.4 million barrels per day, according to IEA data. According to the International Energy Agency, about 35% of this amount was delivered via pipelines to the block.
But pipeline deliveries made up a much larger share of Russian oil shipments to Hungary (86%), the Czech Republic (97%) and Slovakia (100%).
Europe now needs to find alternative sources of its crude to help bring down high fuel prices, which helped push eurozone inflation to another record high of 8.1% on Tuesday.
Josep Borrell, the EU’s top diplomat, said on Tuesday that Europe could not prevent Russia from selling oil to non-European countries.
“We are not strong, but we are Russia’s most important client,” he added.
CNN’s Diksha Madhuk, Anna Cuban, James Frater, Mitchell McCluskey, Sharon Braithwaite and Hera Humayun contributed to this report.
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