The European Union intends to ban new contracts with the largest Russian oil companies – Rosneft, Gazprom Neft and Transneft. Moreover, the EU intends to introduce a complete ban on the provision of any services to Russian companies involved in the extraction and sale of oil, if they exceed the established ceiling. This is reported by EUobserver, citing sources familiar with the negotiations.
The oil industry is given a key place in the new sanctions package. The EU intends to conduct a total certification of all companies that work with Russian energy resources. In the event of the introduction of new restrictions, European companies will be entitled to enter into contracts for the transportation of Russian oil only if its price is equal to or lower than that established under the price cap mechanism, otherwise European companies will be banned from working with it.
In addition to restrictions on the oil industry, it is planned to impose sanctions against the state company Alrosa: its assets will be frozen and financial transactions prohibited, while the EU is not ready to introduce a complete ban on Russian diamonds. The sanctions will also affect the import of caviar, vodka, cigarettes, products of the steel and timber industries.
The key difficulty is agreeing on these measures, sources say, as some countries oppose new sanctions. For example, Hungary has refused to support new energy sanctions, and Greece, Malta and Cyprus may refuse to support an oil cap initiative, which could hit their shipping companies. Nevertheless, European officials intend to agree on all restrictions before the summit in Prague, which will be held on October 6-7. As expected, it is then that a new sanctions package will be introduced.
On Thursday, September 29, it also became known that the EU is seriously considering the possibility of a complete ban on Russians from using the cryptocurrency infrastructure. Russians may lose access to their crypto wallets, and exchanges may require the withdrawal of all funds from their accounts. At the moment, Russian citizens are allowed to have no more than €10,000 on the stock exchange.