Energy News Beat
EU envoys agreed on a further round of sanctions on Russia on Wednesday amid conflicting signals from the United States about the future of Washington’s own regime of restrictive measures aimed at Moscow.
The new sanctions package – the EU’s 16th since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 – includes import bans on aluminium, export restrictions on chromium and other items used to produce factory equipment, and the removal of multiple Russian banks from the SWIFT international payments system.
It also includes additional measures to clamp down on Russia’s circumvention of the G7’s oil price cap, which limits the sale of Russian seaborne oil to $60 per barrel.
The move, which came the day after US and Russian officials met in Saudi Arabia to discuss an end to the three-year-long Ukraine war, followed a meeting of EU finance ministers on Tuesday in Brussels at which officials reaffirmed their support for the bloc’s current sanctions policy.
One European official familiar with Tuesday’s discussions said that it is “very likely” that the EU’s sanctions policy “could evolve independently” of the US over the coming months, as it remains unclear what course US President Donald Trump might steer after his initial steps toward patching up ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“I did not detect any reduction in commitment to the implementation of our sanctions package,” the official said. “And therefore I don’t see it likely that if the US was to go in a different direction we would follow.”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had initially suggested after his meeting with Russian officials on Tuesday that Washington could ease sanctions on Moscow as part of any ceasefire arrangement – and hinted that the EU might be compelled to follow suit.
“Sanctions are all the result of this conflict,” Rubio said, noting that “in order to bring an end to any conflict there has to be concessions made by all sides”.
“But there are other parties that have sanctions,” he added. “The European Union is going to have to be at the table at some point because they have sanctions as well that have been imposed.”
But Bloomberg subsequently reported that Rubio had privately informed several European counterparts that Washington would maintain its raft of sanctions on Moscow until the war is over, citing people familiar with the matter.
A State Department spokesperson also confirmed on Tuesday that Rubio had briefed ministers from France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, and Kaja Kallas, the EU’s top diplomat, “immediately” after the meeting in Riyadh.
“The group agreed to remain in close contact as we work to achieve a durable end to the conflict in Ukraine,” the spokesperson said.
The EU’s sanctions require unanimous support among the EU’s 27 member states and must be renewed every six months.
One EU diplomat noted that Trump’s close relationship with Hungary’s Viktor Orbán – who has repeatedly denounced the EU’s sanctions – could lead to “problems” if Washington pressured Brussels to lift sanctions on Moscow.
“If this scenario would happen [where] Trump asked EU to ease up with the sanctions, I’m pretty sure that there will be at least one head of state who will be willing to do that,” the diplomat said.
Polish Finance Minister Andrzej Domański, whose country currently holds the rotating presidency of the EU, also said on Tuesday that Warsaw is sticking with its controversial push to confiscate the €210 billion in frozen Russian assets currently held in the EU.
Such a move has been fiercely resisted by Belgium, where the vast majority of the assets are based. Belgian leaders have argued that seizing the assets is legally dubious and could threaten the financial stability of the eurozone.
Confiscation is, however, staunchly supported by many Eastern European countries and was also strongly endorsed by the previous US administration led by Joe Biden.
The profits generated by these assets are currently being used to finance a $50 billion loan to Kyiv, following an agreement last year by G7 countries.
“Of course, we do believe that these assets should be used to benefit Ukraine and not only the profits, but also the assets [themselves],” Domański said at a Bloomberg-hosted event.
“Having said that, of course, there are countries that express their position which is different,” he added. “So we are in ongoing discussions – it would be premature to say what could be the end for that.”
European Commissioner for Economy Valdis Dombrovksis, who has also repeatedly refused to rule out seizing the assets, also suggested yesterday that the EU’s sanctions policy could evolve independently of the US.
“I think it’s very clear with the moves of the current Trump administration that EU will need to take issues related to its security more [into] its own hands,” he said, adding that this “also concerns sanctions policy”.
The EU has banned €91.2 billion worth of imports from Russia since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, as well as €48 billion in exports, according to the European Commission.
The new sanctions package is set to be formally endorsed by EU foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday.
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The post EU forges ahead with ‘independent’ Russia sanctions policy amid mixed US signals appeared first on Energy News Beat.
