Europe’s Move Against Putin’s Oil May Be Its Last for a While
- Leaders agreed to work on banning Russian oil at summit
- Calls for moving on to gas prompt divisions within bloc
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European Union leaders overcame weeks of division to clinch a deal on partially banning Russian oil, but calls to target one of President Vladimir Putin’s other big moneymakers, gas, are opening new rifts in the bloc.
In the hardest-hitting measure targeting Russia’s lucrative energy sector, the government chiefs agreed to pursue a ban on the purchase of seaborne oil and petroleum products from Russia, with a temporary exemption for pipeline crude. While the details must still be hashed out, the deal prepares the ground for a sixth package of sanctions to punish Putin for invading Ukraine.