EU leaders agree on partial ban of Russian oil imports

Leaders of the European Union on Monday agreed in principle to slash nearly 90% of oil imports from Russia by the end of the year, in the bloc’s harshest sanctions yet on Moscow since the Ukraine conflict started three months ago.

European diplomats said the agreement would pave the way for other elements of a sixth package of EU sanctions on Russia to take effect, including disconnecting Sberbank, Russia’s biggest bank, from the global SWIFT messaging system.

“Agreement to ban export of Russian oil to the EU,” said European Council President Charles Michel in a tweet at the end of the first day of a two-day summit of 27 EU leaders.

“This immediately covers more than 2/3 of oil imports from Russia, cutting a huge source of financing for its war machine. Maximum pressure on Russia to end the war,” he said.

The EU agreement, announced on Monday night, appeared to resolve a deadlock with Hungary over the sanctions on Russia. Budapest seemingly won reassurances from other leaders that emergency measures would apply “in case of sudden interruptions of supply” following concerns raised by Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

A bulk of Russian oil imported by the EU comes via tanker and one third by the Druzhba pipeline. The embargo on seaborne oil imports would therefore apply to 2/3 of all oil imported from Russia.

The embargo also includes 90% of all imports from Russia once Poland and Germany, which are also connected to the pipeline, stop buying it by the end of the year.

EU officials said the remaining 10% will be temporarily exempt from the embargo so that landlocked Hungary, which was the main holdout for a deal, along with Slovakia and the Czech Republic, continue to have access to energy supplies which they cannot easily replace.

The ban on oil imports to EU countries will apply to Russian crude that is delivered by shipments.

But it was not immediately clear how member states that receive oil from tankers would be compensated for the higher cost compared with those that will keep the pipelines open.