EU leaders agreed late Monday night on a political deal to impose sanctions on Russian oil imports.
“Agreement to ban Russian oil exports to the EU,” tweeted European Council President Charles Michel at a meeting of leaders in Brussels. “This immediately covers more than two-thirds of Russia’s oil imports, cutting a huge source of funding for its military machine.
The EU Council has yet to formally agree on sanctions.
The compromise will allow Russia to temporarily continue exporting oil to the EU via pipelines, while maritime supplies will be blocked until the end of the year, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced earlier this month.
Von der Layen tweeted that the leaders’ agreement “will effectively reduce about 90% of Russia’s oil imports to the EU by the end of the year.”
Germany and Poland, which could benefit from the pipeline’s release, have pledged to effectively shut down the Northern Friendship pipeline, several EU diplomats said.
There is also an agreement to “complete [closure of the] the southern branch as soon as possible, “said an Elise official. The southern section of the pipeline supplies oil to Slovakia, Hungary and the Czech Republic.
An EU spokesman said the Czech Republic had received an 18-month exemption from the ban to cover the resale of petroleum products.
Hungary has also provided an emergency provision to ensure security of supply if pipeline supplies are cut off, EU diplomats said.
Imposing an embargo on Russian oil would be one of Europe’s most significant steps to curb President Vladimir Putin’s revenue to wage war in Ukraine. But the move was delayed for weeks by Hungary, which said its economy would be hit by a total ban.
David M. Hersenhorn, Lily Bayer and Giorgio Lealy contributed to the report.
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