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EU's 6th Sanctions Package to Ban Most Russian Oil Shipments, Increase Tech Export Controls

The EU agreed to a partial ban on Russian oil ahead of a sixth sanctions package on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine. The ban applies to the purchase of crude oil and petroleum products from Russia delivered to EU member states by sea. A temporary exclusion applies to crude shipped via pipeline. European Council President Charles Michel confirmed the agreement on a partial ban on Russian oil in a May 30 tweet following a summit in Brussels. "This immediately covers more than 2/3 of oil imports from Russia, cutting a huge source of financing for its war machine," the tweet said.

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European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said European leaders also agreed to sanctions on Sberbank, Russia's largest bank, by expelling it from the global interbank payment and messaging system SWIFT. Von der Leyen said the sanctions package also includes a ban on insurance and reinsurance of Russian ships, a ban on providing a range of services to Russian companies and a suspension of broadcasting in the EU of three more Russian state outlets.

The package will also expand export restrictions on certain advanced technologies, said Stephane Chardon, the European Commission’s chief export control official. Controls will also be tightened against additional entities associated with Russia's military-industrial complex, Chardon said. The EU will also add the U.K. and South Korea as "partner countries," which are nations implementing Russian export restrictions similar to those imposed by the EU.

With all 27 member nations needed to adopt the sanctions, EU leaders were to meet again June 1 to hammer out technical details. Hungary, one of the lone holdouts on a complete ban of Russian oil, will receive oil via pipeline under the partial ban. The country, which sought assurances over its energy supply, got guarantees from other EU leaders that it would be able to receive replacement supplies of oil if the pipelines were disrupted, Bloomberg reported May 30. The most recent form of the proposal bans shipments of oil carried over the ocean after six months, with refined petroleum products being banned after eight months, Bloomberg said.