EU’s Russia Sanctions Effort Slows Over Oil Dependency

The European Union’s efforts to impose a new round of sanctions against Russia over the war in Ukraine appeared to bog down on Monday, as a small group of countries continued to oppose a ban on Russian oil imports.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, the 27-nation bloc has implemented five rounds of sanctions on Moscow. Russian President Vladimir Putin, senior Russian officials, more than 350 lawmakers and pro-Kremlin oligarchs have been hit with asset freezes and travel bans. Russian banks, the transport sector and alleged propaganda outlets were targeted.

What could have taken years in the past was achieved in less than three months — relative light speed for the bloc. But limiting Russia’s energy income by weaning the EU’s dependency on Russian oil — not to mention Russian gas supplies — is proving a tougher nut to crack.

The EU’s executive branch, the European Commission, proposed on May 4 a sixth package of war sanctions that included a ban on oil imports from Russia. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen conceded at the time that securing the agreement of all “will not be easy.”

Hungary is one landlocked EU country that is highly dependent on Russian oil, along with the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Bulgaria also has reservations. Hungary gets more than 60% of its oil from Russia and 85% of its natural gas.

Unhappily, today it has not been possible to reach an agreement” to end the oil stalemate, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said after chairing a meeting of the bloc’s foreign ministers in Brussels.

The problem, Borrell said, “was technically too complicated, and it was not possible to reach a political decision.” He said he could not predict how long it might take to break the deadlock, but said EU ambassadors would continue work on the issue in the coming days.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba was disappointed by the delay.