EU diplomat: Bloc agrees to ban 90% of Russian oil imports by end of 2022

EU leaders are meeting for an off-schedule summit with some progress regarding Russian sanctions. The EU Council President Charles Michel said the officials have agreed to ban the export of Russian oil to the EU.

According to Michel, the EU ”agrees to de-swifting the largest Russian bank Sberbank, banning 3 more Russian state-owned broadcasters, and sanctioning individuals responsible for war crimes in Ukraine.”

Hungary has vetoed EU-wide energy sanctions, but this meeting may have provided a platform for a breakthrough. The embargo was in draft agreement leaders were set to adopt Monday.

The latest measure will ban all Russian oil transported to the European nations by tankers, but will rather permit crude arriving by pipeline. That would still ban two-thirds of total oil imported into the EU from Russia, based on a draft seen by the New York Times.

In March, leaders asked the Commission to present proposals at this meeting on how to deal with rising food prices, defense gaps, dissociating electricity and gas prices, as well as reducing Russian energy dependence. It is worth mentioning that oil prices were unchanged in early Asian trade despite the prospects of an EU agreement.