Brussels, April 10 (AFP\/APP): EU foreign ministers are on Monday to discuss a sixth round of sanctions on Moscow for its war in Ukraine but the bloc remains divided over a ban on Russian gas and oil imports.<\/p>\n
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said during a visit to Kyiv on Friday that the EU was now engaged in “rolling sanctions” against Russia to increasingly punish President Vladimir Putin for his decision to invade his pro-Western neighbour.<\/p>\n
“We are mobilising our economic power to make Putin pay a very, very heavy price,” she said. “We have imposed five waves of unprecedented sanctions against Russia. And we are already preparing the next wave.”<\/p>\n
Although the sanctions that would hurt Russia the most — an EU boycott of its oil and gas exports — are not on the table formally, European Union diplomats acknowledge there are discussions about them.<\/p>\n
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly called for such EU embargoes.<\/p>\n
The fifth round of sanctions, imposed since Friday, include a ban on Russian coal imports into the EU — an important first step towards a broader prohibition on more energy supplies.<\/p>\n
However unanimity is required among the 27 EU nations for any sanctions to be imposed, and countries reliant on Russian gas — among them Germany, Italy, Austria and Hungary — are reluctant to add it to the list.<\/p>\n
Since the start of the war in Ukraine on February 24, the Kremlin has pocketed more than 35 billion euros ($38 billion) in gas, oil and coal sales to the EU, according to the bloc’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.<\/p>\n
The coal ban is expected to amputate around eight billion euros a year from that amount, according to the European Commission — a minor portion of the overall fossil fuel revenues.<\/p>\n
But where the EU is more in agreement is on financing the supply of weapons to Ukraine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Brussels, April 10 (AFP\/APP): EU foreign ministers are on Monday to discuss a sixth round of sanctions on Moscow for its war in Ukraine but the bloc remains divided over a ban on Russian gas and oil imports. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen […]<\/p>\n
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