The head of EU diplomacy, Josep Borrell, said he would convene the EU Foreign Affairs Council next week if the permanent representatives of European countries do not agree on new sanctions on Russian oil imports.
“The permanent representatives are working and will continue to work to reach an agreement at the technical level, if this does not happen, next week after Europe Day (May 9 – ed.) I will have to convene a meeting of foreign ministers to put what is happening on the table,” he declared, speaking at a conference in Florence, Italy.
Earlier, in a conversation with reporters on the sidelines of the event, the European diplomat said that he would appeal to the ministers if the EU permanent representatives did not come to an agreement on cutting off Russian oil supplies by the end of the weekend.
A number of Western countries have introduced several packages of sanctions against the Russian Federation due to the situation in Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the policy of containment and weakening of Russia is a long-term strategy of the West, and the sanctions dealt a serious blow to the entire world economy. According to him, the main goal of the West is to worsen the lives of millions of people. He added that current events draw a line under the global dominance of the West in both politics and economics. According to him, Russia is not going to isolate itself, it cannot be strictly isolated in the modern world.
Renunciation of Russian oil and gas will entail colossal consequences for the European and world economies, noted the director of the Department of Economic Cooperation of the Russian Foreign Ministry Dmitry Birichevsky. According to him, Europe is very dependent on Russian gas and oil. Even if it moves to total savings, finds suppliers in other regions of the world and switches to renewable energy sources, “in the most ideal scenario” it will be able to replace only 80% of energy resources, he said, stressing that in reality even less. Experts are sure that the increase in energy prices in March to record levels caused by sanctions against the Russian Federation is not the limit, they said in the Russian Federation.
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