uropean Union leaders reached a deal late Monday on a sixth sanction package that would include a partial oil embargo against Russia after resolving an objection from Hungary.
During a marathon meeting in Brussels, the EU members agreed to an embargo that covers Russian oil transported by sea, allowing a temporary exemption for imports delivered by pipeline.
EU Council President Charles Michel said on Twitter that the deal covers more than two-thirds of oil imports from Russia, “cutting a huge source of financing for its war machine. Maximum pressure on Russia to end the war.”
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who had sounded skeptical a deal would be achieved at the two-day summit, said the new sanctions will “effectively cut around 90% of oil imports from Russia to the EU by the end of the year.” EU nations get about 25% of their oil from Russia and have been scrambling to find other options.
Their leaders reached a compromise after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged them to end “internal arguments that only prompt Russia to put more and more pressure on the whole of Europe.”as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban repeatedly claimed his nation's economy would shatter without oil from Russia, which supplies 60% of Hungary's oil. All 27 EU countries must agree for the package to win approval. As a landlocked nation, Hungary is not impacted by the ban on oil brought in by tanker.