The European Union approves an embargo on Russian coal

The EU has approved a coal embargo. This was decided on Thursday by the 27th ambassadors to the European Union, the first time this has been done in the Russian energy sector. The decision, scheduled for Wednesday, was made on Thursday night, following a debate between member states.

The elimination of Russian coal imports from the EU is the star of the fifth package of sanctions against Russia, which the European Commission offered to 27 this week in response to the massacre in the Ukrainian city of Bucha. In addition, the list of sanctioned businessmen and people close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, “Russian propaganda agents, members of the military and security apparatus, and industrial and technological entities involved in Russia’s aggression against Ukraine,” was expanded. Council of the European Union.

The list includes two daughters of the Russian president, Katerina Tikhonova and Maria Vorontsova.

Also, as European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Tuesday, included the freezing of assets of several Russian banks; Imposing an arms embargo on Russia; Ban on exports to Russia, including high-tech products, up to 10,000 million euros; A ban on the import of raw materials and critical materials worth 5,500 million euros from Russia; And a ban on ships entering the EU ports under Russian flags.

Finally, a ban on road transport by Russians and Belarusians is included.

The package will be received by the EU Council in writing this Friday for publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

As soon as it is finally approved when it is published in the Official Journal of the European Union, it will be the EU’s first ban on any import of energy from Russia, following the launch of an invasion by Russian President Vladimir Putin on 24 February. Oil and gas, which are much larger imports from Moscow, remain intact.

For its part, the European Parliament on Thursday called for an “immediate and full embargo” on imports of Russian oil, coal, nuclear fuel and gas, as well as the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines, which it transports. Russian gas to Germany as part of a non-binding resolution on Russia.

Regarding the sanctions, the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, explained that the embargo on Russian oil “is not in the package under consideration today, which contains coal. But it will be discussed by EU foreign ministers on Monday. I hope he will be adopted sooner. ”

“We have given Ukraine 1 billion euros, which may seem like a lot, but this is what we pay Putin every day for the energy he gives us. “We gave them 35,000 million after the start of the war,” Borrell told a plenary session of the European Parliament on Wednesday.

“The new package of sanctions includes a ban on coal imports. “But, ladies and gentlemen, I believe that measures against Russian oil and gas will be needed sooner or later,” said Charles Michel, President of the Council of Europe, in connection with the tightening of the energy embargo in Strasbourg on Wednesday. At the moment, Germany is refraining: “We are going to ban the docking of Russian ships in European ports, we are going to ban banking transactions and we will coordinate all this with the G7. It will take a long time. ”

Several countries have expressed their commitment to oil sanctions, including community authority, but Germany and Hungary, which do not want more energy sanctions, are the most resilient because of their dependence on the EU. Germany supplies 55% of its gas annually through the pipeline, which reaches 27; And 22% from oil.

Russia is the EU’s main energy supplier, buying 46.7% of coal, 40% of natural gas and 27% of oil. However, oil and gas are missing: of the 99,000 million euros the EU paid to Moscow last year for energy, 74,000 million were for oil, 17,300 million for gas and 5,400 million for coal, according to Efe data.

Although slightly reduced from the original proposal, the planned EU ban on Russian coal is more ambitious than that of Britain, which has said it plans to ban coal imports from Russia by the end of the year. The European Commission has estimated that banning coal could cost Russia up to 4 billion euros a year in lost revenue.

More than 500 million weapons for Ukraine

The head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell proposed to increase the budget of the European Union by another 500 million for the so-called arms embargo for Ukraine. Through the instrument of peace. Thus, the total amount will reach 1,500 million, which was approved three times at the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The President of the European Council, Charles Michel, announced Borrell’s proposal on Twitter, as well as his support: “Once approved, EU support for Ukraine’s military equipment will be 1.5 billion euros.”

“I hope we will never again encounter a situation where increased pressure on sanctions requires Bucha-like brutality.” This was stated by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba during his visit to NATO this Thursday, who listed his agenda: “weapons, weapons and weapons.”

“Do not tell us that you still think you have to do the paperwork, that there are a lot of issues to be resolved before a decision is made,” Kuleba said after the meeting. “Or help me now.” I am talking about days and not weeks, otherwise help will come too late. And many people will die. Many civilians will lose their homes. “Many villages will be destroyed just because help came too late.”

At the beginning of the meeting, the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, agreed with him: “Zelensky has a lot of support, but what he really needs is weapons. Good words, but the main thing is more resources, more military capabilities, more sanctions, more international isolation of Russia. I hope that today the fifth package of sanctions will finally be approved by the EU ambassadors and I will be able to announce new measures when I travel to Kyiv. “I also hope that Russia will suspend the UN Human Rights Committee.”

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg intervened at the end of the meeting: “We agreed that we should further strengthen and maintain support for Ukraine in order for Ukraine to win against the Russian invasion.”

“The more weapons we have and the sooner they reach Ukraine, the more lives will be saved,” Kuleba said. This is my message to the allies, it’s very simple. And I urge all allies to bury their doubts in order to provide Ukraine with everything it needs. “No matter how strange it may seem, today the weapon serves the purpose of peace.”