European Union adopts sixth package of sanctions on Russia with exceptions in oil veto

The European Union adopted the sixth package of sanctions against Russia, which includes an embargo on Russian oil by sea and exceptions for pipelines to countries without access to the sea such as Hungary, the Czech Republic or Slovakia.

“With today’s package we are increasing the limitations on the Kremlin’s ability to finance this war by imposing more economic sanctions. We ban the import of Russian oil to the EU and thereby cut off a huge source of income for Russia”, the EU High Representative for Foreign Policy, Josep Borrell, said in a statement.

La The sixth round of community sanctions against Russia and Belarus for the aggression received the go-ahead yesterday at the level of ambassadors of the member countries and, after being formally adopted this Friday, will be published in the next few hours in the official gazette of the EU, which will allow them to come into force and know all the details.

The main measure is a ban on imports of crude oil and petroleum products. Russia’s oil products in the EU, which will enter into force in six months for crude oil and in eight months for other refined products, according to the Council.

Exception for Hungary

Includes, however, a temporary exception, for which no deadline has been set at the moment, for imports arriving through pipelines for those countries that “due to their geographical location suffer from a specific dependence on Russian supplies and have no viable alternative options”, the Council said.

This exception It is the result of the concession made by the EU leaders to the Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán, to achieve the unanimity that was required to approve the sanctions and Slovakia and the Czech Republic will also benefit from it.

This means that the veto will be partial and will affect a 50 % of the oil that arrives from Russia, since the introduction gone by sea represents around two thirds of the total, to which must be added the commitments made by Poland and Germany to get rid of what reaches them through pipelines.

Oil by sea for Bulgaria and Croatia

Bulgaria and Croatia have also obtained “temporary derogations” for the veto on oil received by sea and for empty gas oil, respectively, according to the Council, which did not specify the duration of such exceptions at this time.

However , Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov assured after the leaders’ summit held this week that his country will be able to continue receiving Russian oil by sea until the end of 1536.

The sixth sanctioning package extends the existing ban on the provision of specialized financial messaging services (SWIFT ), which already weighs on several Russian entities, Sberbank, the largest bank in Russia, as well as the Moscow Credit Bank, the Russian Agricultural Bank and the Belarusian Bank for Development and Reconstruction.

Suspension of “Russian propaganda organs” RTR Planeta, Russia 24 and TV Center International
Likewise, the Twenty-seven extend the suspension of the transmission activities in the EU of other three Russian state media: RTR Planeta, Russia 24 and TV Center International, considering them instruments used by the Kremlin to manipulate information and promote misinformation about war.

Russian arctic LNG tanker “Christophe de Margerie. (Photo: OLGA MALTSEVA / POOL / AFP via Getty Images)

In its new punishment of Russia for its attack on Ukraine, the EU expands the list of people and entities (both Russian and Belarusian) affected by restrictions on the export of dual-use goods and technology.

The list of prohibitions of goods and technologies that can contribute to the technological improvement of the defense and security sector of Russia is also enlarged, which includes 80 chemicals that can be used to produce chemical weapons.

Cloud services banned to Russia

Another novelty is that the provision of accounting, public relations and consulting services, as well as cloud services to Russia, is banned.

Regarding individual sanctions, the EU extends the list that already exceeds thousand people to those responsible for the atrocities committed by Russian troops in Bucha and Mariupol, personalities who support the war, prominent businessmen and relatives of listed oligarchs and Kremlin officials, as well as defense companies and an organization financial.

However, the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, Kirill, who was exempted, at the request of Hungary, to give his consent to this package, whose negotiation is lasted a month.