EU Fails to Get US, G7 Support for Blocking Russian Oil Supplies — Source

A diplomatic source did not exclude "the possibility of Washington imposing its own measures in due time and on its own terms"

© AP Photo/ Virginia Mayo

BRUSSELS, February 23. /TASS/. The European Union has failed to get the United States’ and G7 support in order to jointly block Russian oil deliveries under its 20th package of anti-Russian sanctions, a diplomatic source in Brussels has told TASS.

"The EU presented to the US and G7 its plan to fully prohibit European businesses from transporting Russian oil and providing any kind of maintenance, supply, financing and insurance services to tankers that transport Russian oil, no matter what flag they are flying. The European Commission invited partners to impose similar restrictions on their companies. The United States refused," the diplomat said.

He added that he "does not exclude the possibility of Washington imposing its own measures in due time and on its own terms."

"Other G7 partners said that joining the EU sanctions was possible, but stopped short of giving any clear promises," the source added.

Internal differences

Over the weekend, European ambassadors failed to make any progress on the 20th package of anti-Russian sanctions, so the final decision is to be made by top EU diplomats during their meeting on Monday, the source told TASS.

"There has been no progress. The plan is 95% agreed, but the remaining differences could not be overcome. Now, they are to be discussed by the ministers," he said.

In fact, the situation even became worse over the weekend, because Hungary said it would block the entire 20th package during the ministerial meeting. Budapest demands that Brussels take urgent measures to force Ukraine to resume transit of Russian oil via the Druzhba pipeline. Kiev halted it on January 27, citing alleged Russian drone attack on its own pipeline.

Painful compromise

Earlier, another diplomat told TASS that the European Commission’s measures included a list of reasons for detention and search of "suspicious tankers" to investigate whether they were really transporting Russian oil. A number of European countries see the move as "a real threat of a military confrontation with Russia at sea."

At the same time, the diplomat said he had "no doubts" that the package will be adopted by February 24. The only question is what will be excluded from the initial version, he added.

According to available information, Hungary, Greece, Malta, Italy and Spain have various objections about different parts of the proposed package.