As the war between Russia and Ukraine persists, the European Union has agreed on a partial ban on Russian oil imports, according to European Council chief Charles Michel.
According to CNN, the agreement to ban the export of Russian oil into the EU immediately covers more than 2/3 of oil imports from Russia, cutting a huge source of financing for its war machine,” Michel announced in a tweet on Monday evening.
Michel’s announcement followed an extraordinary European Council summit attended by EU leaders in Brussels on Monday to discuss the sixth package of sanctions against Russia.
“This sanctions package includes other hard-hitting measures: de-swifting the largest Russian bank Sberbank, banning 3 more Russian state-owned broadcasters, and sanctioning individuals responsible for war crimes in Ukraine,” Michel added.
The EU agreed to ban 90 per cent of Russian oil imports by the end of the year, the leaders of the European Council said.
Russian oil delivered by tankers would be banned, while an exemption will be made for the southern segment of the Druzhba pipeline, said Ursula von der Leyen — president of the European Commission — in a press conference.
The northern segment of the pipeline serves Poland and Germany — who have agreed to the embargo.
The southern part goes to Hungary, Slovakia and Czech republic. Von der Leyen said an exemption will be made for the southern segment, which accounts for 10% of imports of Russian oil.
“As we have a clear political statement by Poland and Germany that they will, as the others, wind down Russian oil, until the end of the year. We have covered overall 90 per cent of Russian oil being winded down during this time frame.
Leftover is the roundabout of 10 or 11 per cent that is covered by the southern Druzhba. We have agreed for the moment being for an exemption,” von der Leyen said.
EU leaders will meet again in Brussels today to discuss their response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Officials first proposed joining the US and others in banning Russia’s oil a month ago as part of the sixth package of EU sanctions over the country’s invasion of Ukraine.
But an agreement has been held up by some countries, like Hungary, that is particularly reliant on Russian crude delivered via pipeline.
An EU official told CNN earlier that banning all seaborne oil would cover more than two-thirds of imports from Russia. Europe is the biggest buyer of Russian energy. Russian crude accounted for 27% of the bloc’s imports in 2021, according to Eurostat.
That’s around 2.4 million barrels per day, data from the International Energy Agency shows. About 35% of that was delivered via pipelines to the bloc, according to the IEA. But pipeline deliveries made up a much bigger share of Russian oil shipments to Hungary (86%), the Czech Republic (97%) and Slovakia (100%).