EU targets Russian oil and Patriarch in new sanctions

EU targets Russian oil and Patriarch in new sanctions

STRASBOURG: The European Union’s executive unveiled Wednesday plans for a gradual ban on Russian oil imports as part of a raft of new sanctions to punish Moscow for invading Ukraine.

The European Commission also proposed slapping sanctions on Russia’s biggest bank and the targeting of Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church. If approved by member states, the oil ban would be the EU’s toughest move yet against the Russian energy sector, which helps the Kremlin finance its war.

But it will still not touch Russia’s huge gas exports—and several EU member states are demanding an extension to the deadline to halt oil imports while they secure new sources of fuel. The oil embargo would be part of the bloc’s sixth sanction package and would be phased-in over the rest of the year to help countries adapt.

The EU is the biggest consumer of Russia’s crude oil. Last year Russia supplied the bloc’s 27 members with 30 percent of their crude and 15 percent of their petroleum products. “We now propose a ban on Russian oil. This will be a complete import ban on all Russian oil: seaborne and pipeline, crude and refined,” European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen told