Lithuania announces work on new package of EU sanctions against Russia

The new package of sanctions is planned to include options related to oil supplies. The European Commission has previously said

The EU is starting work on a sixth package of sanctions that will include an option related to oil, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said ahead of a summit of EU foreign ministers.

“The European Commission has made it quite clear that we are starting work on a sixth package of sanctions with oil options. This means that we have already begun work on reaching a consensus,” Landsbergis said.

The oil embargo was not included in the previous, fifth package of restrictions, but Brussels warned that it would discuss sanctions against this sector. According to the HEAD of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, the discussion takes into account such ideas as a tax on Russian oil imports or "special payment channels" like escrow accounts.

The European Commission announced the discussion of sanctions on the import of Russian oil Economy

Escrow accounts have been used since 2013 as part of sanctions against Iran, when the US banned the sale of its oilother countries through the threat of secondary sanctions. As a result, a compromise option was chosen: the countries deposited payments for Iran in their currencies to a special account, the funds from which could only be debited for the import into the Islamic Republic of permitted goods from these countries. Thus, Tehran did not directly receive the currency, instead, commodity barter was provided.

RUSSIA provides 25% of EU oil imports. According to the European Commission, in 2021, EU countries imported €48.5 billion worth of crude oil from Russia, and €22.4 billion worth of oil products.

The European Union has introduced the fifth package of sanctions. What is important to know Business

At the end of last week, the European Union introduced the fifth package of sanctions against Russia, which included an embargo on coal imports worth €8 billion, a ban on the EXPORT of certain turbines and engines, printing ink, paper, photographic films. The ban on the import of petrochemical equipment was also expanded, including for LNG projects.

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