European Union governments have failed to agree today on an embargo on Russian oil.
This was reported by Reuters, citing a European official.
Negotiations will resume tomorrow morning, as the plan is to prepare an agreement for the EU summit on Monday afternoon.
“To break the deadlock, the European Commission proposed that the ban apply only to russian oil brought into the EU by tankers, leaving Hungary, Slovakia and Czechia to continue to receive their russian oil via the russian Druzhba pipeline for some time until alternative supplies can be arranged”, – the message sais.
The summit of European Union leaders will begin on May 30.
Earlier the media reported that France, which holds the presidency of the European Council, proposed in the sixth package of sanctions against russia to ban russian oil delivered by sea, which will be 2/3 of all imports.
Earlier, Bloomberg also reported that the European Union is proposing to ban only the sea transportation of oil from russia and to postpone restrictions on imports from the key Druzhba pipeline to satisfy Hungary and reach an agreement on the sixth package of sanctions.
The United States has also said it will ask European countries to impose tariffs on Russian oil as a quick alternative to a direct oil embargo.
The embargo on russian oil should be included in the sixth EU sanctions package against russia. The new sanctions were presented on May 4. There was a gradual abandonment of oil imports from russia: crude - up to six months, refined - by the end of the year.
Hungary and its Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán, have systematically opposed the imposition of anti-russian energy sanctions. The Prime Minister noted that the approval of the proposed package of sanctions will require his country to make large-scale investments in alternative supplies and modernization of Hungarian refineries.
Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that the package of sanctions could not be adopted only because of Hungary's position.