EU Presidency France, in a statement on its official social media account, announced that the representatives of the member states approved the 6th sanctions package against Russia and that the measures will be published in the Official Journal of the EU tomorrow and enter into force.
According to the package, the assets of some Russian officials, oligarchs and their family members will be frozen. They will be subject to a travel ban.
Imports of oil from Russia by sea will be banned. By the end of this year, Russia’s oil imports will be reduced by 92 percent. The provision of services to the Russian oil sector will also be banned.
3 Russian banks, including Sberbank, and 1 Belarusian bank will be removed from the international payment system SWIFT. The scope of the ban on exports to Russia will be expanded.
3 Russian media outlets engaged in propaganda activities will be banned from publication. Russia’s access to consulting services will be cut off.
What does the 6th package contain
The EU Commission prepared its 6th sanctions package at the beginning of last month.
The package included the gradual abolition of the supply of crude oil from Russia within 6 months and the supply of refined products by the end of the year, but the issue of banning oil imports in particular caused problems among the member countries.
Hungary opposed
Countries such as the Czechia, Slovakia and Bulgaria, led by Hungary, opposed the package, which required unanimity to enter into force. EU member states have held intensive negotiations on the oil ban. EU countries were able to reach a compromise when the latest package covered the purchase of oil from Russia by tankers and revised pipelines to exclude them from sanctions.
Leaders of EU countries have exempted the Druzhba pipeline, which carries oil from Russia to Europe, from sanctions in order to reach an agreement. It was also decided that the ban on oil imports by sea would come into effect by the end of the year.
The EU imports about 25 percent of the oil it consumes from Russia. Two-thirds of the EU’s oil imports from Russia are made by sea and one-third by pipeline.
The leader of the Russian Orthodox Church was not included in the sanctions list
Most EU member states wanted the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, to be placed on the sanctions list for supporting Russia’s attack on Ukraine. In the proposal of the sanctions package prepared by the EU, Patriarch Kirill was listed as one of the “most prominent people who supported Russia’s attack on Ukraine”.
Hungary opposed adding Kirill to the sanctions list. EU sources said Kirill was not included in the sanctions package.
