European Union leaders have agreed to embargo most Russian oil imports into the bloc by year-end. The move is part of new sanctions on Russia worked out Monday at a summit focused on helping Ukraine with a long-delayed package of new financial support.
“We want to stop Russia’s war machine,” Michel said, lauding what he called a “remarkable achievement.”
The EU had already imposed five previous rounds of sanctions on Russia over its war. It has targeted more than 1,000 people individually, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and top government officials as well as pro-Kremlin oligarchs, banks, the coal sector and more.The impasse embarrassed the bloc, which was forced to scale down its ambitions to break Hungary’s resistance.
The EU gets about 40% of its natural gas and 25% of its oil from Russia, and divisions over the issue exposed the limits of the 27-nation trading bloc’s ambitions.