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The EU has agreed on a new round of sanctions against Moscow, including limiting Russian banks’ access to funding and a ban on using the Nord Stream gas pipelines connecting Russia and Germany.
The package, designed to ratchet up pressure on Moscow amid stalled peace negotiations, also includes a planned reduction in the G7’s price cap on Russia’s oil exports.
Kaja Kallas, the EU’s foreign policy chief, said on X on Friday that it was “one of its strongest” packages against Russia to date.
“We’re cutting the Kremlin’s war budget further,” she said shortly before EU ministers formally approved the curbs — their 18th package of sanctions since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Under the measures, there will now be a ban on financial transactions with Russian banks that were already excluded from the Swift international messaging system. The package will also hit a further 22 Russian lenders.
The G7’s price cap on Russia’s oil exports will be reduced to $47.6 per barrel from $60. That would set the price 15 per cent lower than the average market price for Russian crude oil.
Companies from participating countries may be involved in moving Russian oil as long as the crude is priced at below a set maximum under the terms of the price cap, which was introduced by the EU and other G7 allies in 2022.
The new level, which will be automatically reviewed every six months to ensure it remains 15 per cent below the global market price, will apply to EU member states but is likely to lack full impact unless it gains backing from all G7 partners, particularly the US.
The EU would continue talks with the US and other partners to reach a full deal on the cap, an official involved in the negotiations said.
The latest sanctions package took weeks to agree because of a stand-off with Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico. Sanctions need approval from all of the EU’s 27 members.
Slovakia had demanded more time from Brussels to phase out Russian gas contracts, but agreed to sign off on the package on Thursday night after securing sufficient guarantees from the European Commission.
“At this point, it would be counter-productive to continue blocking the 18th sanctions package,” Fico said late on Thursday. “All options have been exhausted for now, and remaining in our blocking position would already jeopardise our interests.”
Martin Hojsík, a lawmaker from the main opposition Progressive Slovakia party, who is also a vice-president of the European parliament, said that by dragging out the talks on fresh sanctions, Fico had “made the whole country ashamed”.
Additional reporting by Raphael Minder in Warsaw