Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says that the European states “will anyway have to fully ban” Russian oil as it concerns the independence of the countries, responding to the recent consensus in the EU to block more than two-thirds of Russian oil imports.
Zelensky said it took EU countries quite a long time to make a decision on this partial ban, as the last package of sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine was imposed two months ago.
Zelensky thanked the President of the European Council Charles Michel “who did his best to reach a compromise between the EU countries.”
“Russia has to pay a much higher price for aggression. The key point, of course, is oil. I believe that Europe will in any case have to ban Russian oil and oil products because it concerns the independence of the Europeans themselves against the use of Russian energy as a weapon. The sooner this happens, the more complete the renunciation of Russian oil will be, the greater the benefits for Europe itself in the end,” he said.
European Union leaders agreed on Monday to block more than two-thirds of Russian oil imports.
The ban will only concern oil that arrives by sea but not pipeline oil, following opposition from Hungary.
Russia currently supplies 27% of the EU’s imported oil and 40% of its gas.
The EU pays Russia around €400bn ($430bn, £341bn) a year in return, BBC said.
