EU to ween off Russian oil within six to eight months
The European Union (EU) has green lit a sixth round of Russian sanctions today, as Ukraine marks its 100th day since Russia’s invasion.
“The Council decided today to impose a sixth package of economic and individual sanctions targeting both Russia and Belarus,” the EU Council said in a press release today.
The EU plans to have banned imports of crude oil and certain petroleum products from Russia, Europe’s largest energy exporter, within the next six to eight months.
Meanwhile a temporary exemption is expected to be imposed for a handful of EU countries who are unable to further diversity their energy imports, including Hungary and Croatia.
The European Commission said earlier this week that these restrictions would help cut around 90 per cent of Russian oil imports.
Another three Russian banks – Sberbank, Credit Bank of Moscow and Rosselkhozbank – will also be excluded from the global SWIFT system, as well as the Belarusian Bank for Development and Reconstruction.
The EU has also suspended the broadcasting of several Russian television channels, including RTR Planeta, as part of its sixth package of anti-Russian sanctions.