EU Okays Gradual Russian Oil Embargo By Yearend

European Union (EU) leaders have agreed to an embargo on Russian oil imports that will start kicking in towards the end of the year and which exempts, for now, pipeline imports that Hungary and two other landlocked Central European states rely on, Kate Abnett and Jan Strupczewski reported for Reuters.

Photo Insert: "Europe must be strong and united, and when deciding on the next package of sanctions, we must keep the focus on the ultimate goal: Ukraine must win, Russia must lose," Kariņš tweeted.

The toughest sanction yet on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, agreed overnight after weeks of wrangling, aims to remove 90% of Russia's crude imports into the 27-nation bloc by year-end, senior officials said.

"The purpose is to stop Russia's aggressive war," Latvian Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins said.

Two-thirds of the Russian oil imported by the EU comes via tanker and one-third through the Druzhba pipeline. The ban on seaborne imports will be imposed with a phase-in period of six months for crude oil and eight months for refined products, a European Commission spokesperson said.

This means the target for refined products is effectively early 2023 rather than at the end of this year since that timeline would kick in once the sanctions are formally adopted, with EU states aiming to do this week.

The target to cut 90% of all Russian imports by the end of 2022 includes seaborne deliveries as well as Poland and Germany stopping their own imports of Russian oil via pipeline by then, which they have pledged to do.

The remaining 10% would be temporarily exempt from the embargo so that landlocked Hungary, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic have access to Russian oil from the Druzhba pipeline.

Oil prices extended a bull run after the EU's agreement, stoking concern about inflation, which was running at a record high of 8.1 percent year-on-year in eurozone countries this month, Eurostat said on Tuesday.

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