FT finds out what the new EU sanctions package against Russia will target

The European Commission, as part of the 18th package of sanctions against RUSSIA, intends to propose reducing the maximum price for Russianoil and ban the use of Russian energy infrastructure, including the Nord Stream gas pipelines, the Financial Times reports.

The package will include a reduction in the current oil price ceiling from $60 to $45 per barrel, the newspaper's sources said. New oil tankers that Brussels links to Russia's shadow fleet will also be blacklisted.

The G7, EU and Australia introduced a price cap on Russian oil in December 2022. In February 2023, restrictions on petroleum products also came into effect: $100 per barrel for diesel fuel (since it is sold at a premium compared to crude oil) and $45 per barrel for fuel oil, which is sold at a discount.

The proposal to lower the G7 ceiling on Russian oil has been under discussion for almost six months.BLOOMBERG wrote about such plans back in December 2024 .

At the same time, EU countries intend to include in the package “precautionary measures” that will help protect Belgium, where the Bank of Russia’s assets worth €190 billion are frozen, from lawsuits from Moscow under a bilateral investment agreement, sources say.

A bilateral investment treaty was concluded between the USSR and Belgium in 1989. According to the document, capital investments of investors from one party in the territory of the other cannot be expropriated, except in cases where the decision is made based on public interests and is not discriminatory. In this case, it must be accompanied by the payment of compensation.

The draft of the new sanctions package against Russia, which will be the 18th in a row, will be presented later today; approval of the document requires the agreement of all EU countries, the FT notes. The position of Slovakia and Hungary, which have repeatedly stated that they are against sanctions, could complicate the discussion, the newspaper recalls.

However, two FT sources said they were optimistic about the prospects of EU countries reaching an agreement on a new sanctions package by the end of July. They recall that Hungary had already been convinced to agree to extend anti-Russian sanctions.

The EU economic sanctions against Russia are extended by a separate decision of the EU Council twice a year - in January and July. In winter, Hungary once again spoke out against the restrictions, but then agreed after receiving energy security guarantees from the EU. Politico wrote that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio managed to convince Budapest to "back down" and extend sanctions against Russia. According to the newspaper, Rubio called Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto and urged him "not to derail the sanctions regime."

In May, the HEAD of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, announced that the new sanctions package would affect the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines. The Wall Street Journal wrote that the European Commission wants to block Nord Stream 2 if Russia does not agree to a ceasefire. The publication specified that the measure is proposed to be introduced separately from the new sanctions package.

Russia considers the sanctions illegal. In response to the threats of sanctions, the Kremlin said that it is impossible to talk to Moscow in the "language of ultimatums." President Vladimir Putin called the lifting of sanctions one of the conditions for a peaceful settlement of the Ukrainian conflict.

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