(Brussels) The EU strengthened its sanctions on Friday against Moscow, targeting the Russian oil windfall, with the hope of being soon joined by the United States, if Vladimir Putin was to persist in his war against Ukraine.
This pack of sanctions, the 18the Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, “one of the most severe against Russia to date,” said the head of European diplomacy Kaja Kallas.
These include, among other things, a lowering of the price of the Russian crude oil exported, now set at just over $ 45 a barrel, 15 % less than the average price of the Russian barrel on the market.
The mechanism prohibits any oil company, merchant fleet, etc., from selling Russian oil above a certain price, under penalty of sanctions.
“At the right time”
“All together, we intensify the pressure on Russia to obtain an unconditional ceasefire,” said French president Emmanuel Macron.
“This decision is essential and comes at the right time,” reacted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the social network X. The Kremlin said for its part that it would make sure to “minimize” the consequences of these sanctions, promising that they would have “negative effects” for Europeans.
The EU has prohibited any importation of Russian oil into its territory, but Moscow continues to export its gross to other countries, including India or China.
“Oil exports still represent a third of Russia’s income,” said the president of the European Commission in June, Ursula von der Leyen.
To reduce this windfall, essential to Russia to finance its war against Ukraine, the G7 decided at the end of 2022 to set a maximum sale price, to 60 dollars per barrel. But this price is now deemed too high, given the current value of oil on the market, rather downward -oriented.
And if this drop in oil was to be confirmed, the new mechanism makes it possible to follow the trend, still remaining 15 % under the average price, a system deemed more flexible and efficient than the previous one. The new threshold, set at $ 47.6 per barrel, will be revised every six months to take into account market development, or even before if necessary, according to a European diplomat.
Hold the pressure
According to Mme Kallas, the $ 60 ceiling has reduced Russian oil revenues by 30 %.
It is all the more effective since it is applied by all G7 countries, which this time will not be the case, the United States has not yet decided again.
Great Britain, however, announced on Friday to rally there and other G7 countries, including Japan or Canada, could follow, according to diplomats.
Europeans, including France, had promised “massive” sanctions several weeks ago if the Russian president continued to refuse any ceasefire, with the hope that the United States would follow them.
The operation was made more complicated by a veto of Slovakia and by the reluctance of Donald Trump.
Bratislava has finally agreed to lift its veto and the European Union now hopes that the United States joins it in the coming weeks, at the expiration of the deadline set by the American president. Donald Trump gave Moscow on Monday 50 days to make peace, under penalty of heavy sanctions targeting his allies.
“With the United States, we will bind Vladimir Putin to a ceasefire” in Ukraine, said French Minister for Foreign Affairs, Jean-Noël Barrot.
Russia, however, quickly sought to bypass these sanctions using a “ghost” fleet of oil tankers, the number of which is evaluated at more than 500, and which the EU has already targeted.
As part of this 18e Train of sanctions, the 27 added 105 “ghosts” tankers to their black list of ships which now has 444 ships, the European Commission said in a statement.
The EU also added 22 entities, including 11 non -Russian, targeting companies operating “ghosts” or helping the Russians to bypass the sanctions. “For the first time”, the EU has targeted an oil refinery belonging to the Russian group Rosneft in India, welcomed Mme Called.
Europeans have also strengthened their financial sanctions by adding 22 banks to the 23 already prohibited from access to the international payment system, the SWIFT.
