From a good source, it was confirmed that the embargo will initially cover oil transported by ship, with an exemption for pipelines. A transition period until the end of the year, to which would be added eighteen months of exemption from the embargo, would be well planned for countries like Hungary, very dependent on the Druzhba pipeline, but these elements must be finalized by the ambassadors (Coreper). The countries which, like Belgium or the Netherlands, feared unfair competition from Germany, which also receives Russian oil through the northern branch of this pipeline, obtained from Berlin and Warsaw a written commitment that they give up this crude before the end of the year.
This agreement should make it possible to unblock the sixth package of sanctions once morest Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. The package also includes the exclusion of Russian banks, including the largest of them, Sberbank, from the SWIFT interbank exchange system, the banning of three major Russian state broadcasters from the EU, and new individual sanctions on officials accused of war crimes.
