The EC announced the blocking of the sixth package of sanctions against Russia

The sixth package of EU sanctions against RUSSIA has been blocked, Paolo Gentiloni, European Commissioner for Economics, said at a press conference in Brussels. The broadcast is available on the EU website.

“Until now, we have not been able to make a decision,” he said.

According to Gentiloni, this issue will be discussed again in the coming days. He noted that the announcement of the intention to impose an embargo on oil from Russia "did not provoke a serious increase in energy prices."

The fact that the EU countries could not reach a common decision on the sixth package of sanctions against Russia was announced on May 16 by the HEAD of EU diplomacy, Josep Borrell. He added that he did not know how many weeks it would take to agree on these restrictions, including the oil embargo.

Prior to this, Borrell warned that the sixth package of sanctions may not be agreed upon at the May 16 meeting, as some countries do not intend to change their position on limiting Russian oil imports. Hungary, in particular, has spoken out against the plans for an oil embargo: its authorities have repeatedly stated that they would not approve a package of sanctions if it included this restriction. REUTERS wrote that at one of the meetings, fears about the ban on Russian oil were also expressed by Bulgaria, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.

Since the end of February, the European Union has introduced five packages of sanctions against Russia and is preparing a sixth. The measures must be approved by the EU Council. Ursula von der Leyen, head of the European Commission, spoke about plans to include an oil embargo in this set in early May. In addition, the sixth package of EU sanctions, according to her, will be aimed at high-ranking Russian military and other persons who "committed war crimes", disconnecting Sberbank and a number of other large Russian banks from the international SWIFT system, as well as a ban on broadcasting in the European Union for three major Russian state channels.