Russia’s oil embargo, disconnection of other banks from the SWIFT system, broadcast ban for certain media: European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen officially announced on Wednesday her sixth package of sanctions intended to punish Russia for its Ukrainian military aggression.
The piece de resistance of these sanctions, which has not yet been confirmed, is the implementation within six months of an embargo on Russia’s oil, which currently accounts for approximately 25% of imports from 27 member countries. Union. European (EU).
Fine products will also be banned by the end of the year. This would be a total embargo on all Russian oil, to be delivered by sea or by pipelines, crude or refined. explained by Ms. von der Leyen.
It will not be easy, as some Member States are highly 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 cuts from this embargo, but European diplomats announced that within days that Hungary and Slovakia, two landlocked countries that are highly dependent on Russia’s oil, will not be included in the embargo until the end of 2023.
The united front that the European Union wants to present to Russia, however, threatens to split with Hungary, where nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has been in contact with Vladimir Putin, has so far denied any oil embargo or gas from Moscow. .
We see no plan on how to make a successful transition based on current measures and guarantee Hungary’s energy security commented on the press service of the Hungarian government, without clear progress in rejecting the European Commission’s project.
We will not vote for sanctions that would make it impossible to supply Hungary with oil or gasHungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto warned on Tuesday.
” This is not a political decision […] this is a real supply issue for us, because it is 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 barriers resulting from this embargo on Russian oil.
Not specified by the proposal […] how to distribute the missing volumes evenly to share this load, and also missing a joint purchase and distribution proposalhe told Reuters. It’s still under study but for me it’s a problemhe said.
German Economy Minister Robert Habeck argued that his country could to support the oil embargo as a nationbut warned that disturbances in its supply may go out.
In particular, he noted that the PCK refinery located in Schwedt, in the regional state of Brandenburg, and which belongs to the Russian conglomerate Rosneft, could be particularly affected. It provides approximately 90% of the oil consumed in Berlin and the surrounding region, including Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER).
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov reacted by arguing that sanctions in Europe were a weapon with two blades. In trying to hurt us, they also have to pay a high price. They are already paying for it. And the amount of sanctions for European citizens will grow every dayhe said.
Other Russian banks in the line of fire
The new European sanctions package also proposes to disconnect three other banks from the SWIFT interbank system, including Sberbank, Russia’s most important banking institution. Seven other Russian banks were disconnected from the system in early March, but Sberbank was rescued, as was Gazprombank.
According to a European source, the Credit Bank of Moscow and Russian Agricultural Bank are the other banks targeted by this measure, aimed at strengthen the complete separation of Russia’s financial system from the world system according to Ms. von der Leyen.
The European Commission also proposes a ban on three other Russian public television channels in the territory of 27, if on cable, via satellite, the internet or via appssaid the head of the European executive.
According to diplomats, RTR-Planeta and R24 will be affected by this decision, which aims to counter the disinformation Russian. Two other Russian media, Sputnik and RT, have been banned from broadcasting in the territory of 27 for nearly two months.
The European Commission also proposes to add the names of 58 Russian personalities to blacklist personalities targeted by individual punishment [d’interdiction d’entrée sur le territoire européen et gels d’avoirs].
These include three family members of Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov and the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, who gave numerous sermons supporting the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine.
Ambassadors of member countries toEU must meet over the weekend to decide on the new set of penalties.
Source: Radio-Canada
