EU proposes to ban Russian ships, still mulls oil import sanctions

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced a proposal for the block’s fifth round of sanctions today, which fell short of sanctioning Russian oil and gas but targeted shipping and coal.

PHOTO: Ursula Von der Leyen proposing new sanctions on Russia today. @vonderleyen via Twitter

Von der Leyen is set to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Kyiv this week after saying she was “appalled by reports of unspeakable horrors in areas from which Russia is withdrawing.”

She urged punishment of Russian war criminals and for countries to take “a clear stand against Putin’s war of choice.”

After speaking with Zelenskiy yesterday, she said the EU will send a Joint Investigation Team with Ukraine’s Prosecutor General to document war crimes against civilians in Bucha and other Ukrainian areas.

Today von der Leyen a proposal for a raft of new sanctions to “sustain utmost pressure” on Russia’s economy.

The proposed bans cover:

• Russian-owned and operated vessels from accessing EU ports
• Russian and Belarusian road transport operators in the EU
• Imports of Russian coal, to cut its €4 billion worth of yearly revenues for Russia
• Transactions with four large Russian banks, including its second largest VTB
• Exports of semiconductors, machinery and transport equipment to Russia, amounting to around €10 billion worth of yearly export revenues for the EU
• Russian firms from taking part in public procurement in EU countries
• All financial support from EU countries to Russian public bodies

These proposals come a day after Germany’s Finance Minister Christian Lindner labelled Russia's invasion of Ukraine a “criminal war”. But he stopped short of getting behind sanctions on Russian energy, saying it would hit Germany more than Russia in the short term. Other countries including Poland and Belgium have urged EU-wide energy sanctions.

Germany said it is working continuously to wean itself off Russian fossil fuels. It is particularly dependent on Russian gas and suggested sanctions on gas, oil and coal can be looked at separately.

Several EU countries are large importers of Russian crude and oil products and have been reluctant to get behind an outright ban. Von der Leyen said member states are now discussing sanctioning Russian oil in some form or another.

“We are working on additional sanctions, including on oil imports, and we are reflecting on some of the ideas presented by the member states, such as taxes or specific payment channels such as an escrow account,” von der Leyen said today.