The far-reaching measure, if approved, could deprive the Kremlin of a key stream of revenue for its war machine and would hasten Europe’s independence from Russian fuel. Fighting raged in eastern Ukraine as Russia struggled with a potential insurgency in occupied territory elsewhere.
European Union leaders were poised to endorse an embargo on Russian oil at a summit in Brussels Monday following weeks of fraught negotiations, paving the way for Europe’s most far-reaching effort yet to punish Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine.
If approved, the move would mark a critical moment in the bloc’s support for Ukraine, reflecting the hardening of Western opposition to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. It would come at a heavy economic cost for Europe, which depends on Russian fossil fuels, a key source of revenue that has allowed Moscow to build up its military. The E.U. gets about 27 percent of its crude oil imports from Russia and a higher share of its oil products, paying billions of dollars a month.
The proposed compromise was only possible by capitulating to Hungary and its mercurial prime minister Viktor Orban, a sometime ally of Mr. Putin, who had been blocking the measure and received an indefinite exemption. The need to placate Hungary underlined the fragility of European unity when the 27-member E.U. is faced with even a single obstructionist member. The measure will ban all Russian oil transported to the European Union by tankers, and permit crude arriving by pipeline. That would still outright ban two-thirds of all oil imported into the bloc from Russia, based on the draft agreement leaders were set to adopt Monday,
Source: NY Times
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