EU ambassadors reached an agreement on new sanctions to hit Vladimir Putin's war with Ukraine, including a price cap on Russian oil sales, according to European diplomats.
The package, which is the 8th round against Moscow, was proposed by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen last week, after the Russian president threatened to use nuclear weapons and mobilised hundreds of thousands of reservists.
A range of EU countries had raised concerns over the new measures, especially on the oil price cap.
"We have moved quickly and decisively," von der Leyen said on Wednesday. "We will never accept Putin’s sham referenda nor any kind of annexation in Ukraine. We are determined to continue making the Kremlin pay."
Since the invasion began in February, the Kremlin's war chest has swelled from tens of billions of euros of fossil fuel sales to Europe, though EU governments have stepped up efforts to move away from Russian energy.
A ban on most crude oil imports from Russia will come into force in December, and the latest sanctions plan builds on those measures. Coal imports have already been phased out and gas supplies from Russia to Europe have been severely disrupted — first by Putin's power games and then by the sabotage of two undersea Nord Stream pipelines.
For European leaders, the task has been to find new ways to target Moscow's income from energy while avoiding the risk of shortages, soaring prices, and potential blackouts at home this winter.
Tuesday's outline deal was agreed in the room at a meeting of ambassadors, who then approved the draft legal text on Wednesday, diplomats said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the discussions were private.
The measures provide for the legal basis of the price cap, which was previously agreed by G7 countries. There is no decision yet on the actual price, or the price range, of the future cap, though the U.S. has suggested this will come within weeks.
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