Russian oil export prices are to be capped in addition to extra trade restrictions and travel bans as part of an eighth sanctions package on Russia formally adopted by EU countries on Thursday.
The package "responds to Russia's continued escalation and illegal war against Ukraine, including by illegally annexing Ukrainian territory based on sham "referenda," mobilizing additional troops, and issuing open nuclear threats," a news release read.
The new measures lay the groundwork for a price cap on Russian oil shipped to third countries, as it was previously agreed on by the G7 group of leading economies.
Under the cap, the transport of oil but also providing services for the shipments, including insurance and financial services, will be prohibited if the oil was sold above a certain threshold.
The level of the price cap still needs to be agreed on by the G7 group and unanimously approved by the EU's 27 member states.
The latest set of punitive measures also adds import bans worth €7 billion ($6.9 billion) to the existing trade restrictions, targeting among others steel products, plastics and certain chemicals.
Additional export restrictions are to prohibit the trade of certain goods used by Russia's defence and security sector, including specific electronic components that were found in Russian weapons on the battlefields.
The new sanctions package also adds people to the list of individuals who have their assets in the EU frozen and are not allowed to travel to the bloc.
This measure targets people involved in occupying and annexing Ukrainian territories as well as senior Russia defence officials.
The new sanctions are the eighth set of punitive measures on Russia since it invaded Ukraine in February and aim to deprive the Kremlin of significant revenues to limit its capacity to finance the war on Ukraine.
The oil price cap comes in addition to a previously agreed import embargo on coal and seaborne oil from Russia. When the new measure will come into effect still needs to be decided on with other G7 countries.
Cyprus, Malta and Greece had reservations about the latest sanctions package due to the size of their respective shipping industries, but backed the price cap eventually.
The European Commission is now due to hold meetings to asses "potential circumvention practices of the price cap, such as deflagging of vessels, and their impact on the effectiveness of the price cap mechanism, and will propose appropriate solutions," the legal text read.
Measures targeting Russian energy have proven contested in the past. Sanctions on seaborne oil and coal came with phase-in periods, while piped oil had big exemptions attached for Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.
Hungary backed the new sanctions after securing exemptions to secure its energy supply, Zoltan Kovacs, the government spokesperson said on Twitter on Wednesday, quoting Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjártó.
The construction of two nuclear reactors in Hungary by Russia's state-owned Rosatom had previously been agreed. Importing steel products for the "establishment, operation, maintenance, fuel supply and retreatment and safety of civil nuclear capabilities" will still be allowed under the new sanctions regime, the legal text stated.
