EU agrees 'unprecedented' round of sanctions targeting Russia's oil exports

Brussels, July 21: The European Union and Britain on Friday sought to ramp up economic pressure on Russia to halt the war in Ukraine by slashing a price cap meant to choke off revenues from key oil exports.

The move from the EU was part of a sweeping new package of sanctions – the bloc's 18th since the start of Russia's 2022 invasion – that also took aim at Moscow's banking sector and military capabilities.

The measures come as allies closely watch whether US President Donald Trump follows through on his threat to punish Moscow over Russian President Vladimir Putin's failure to move forward on a truce.

"The message is clear: Europe will not back down in its support for Ukraine. The EU will keep raising the pressure until Russia ends its war," said EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas.

British foreign minister David Lammy announced the UK was joining the EU price cap sanction, saying they were "striking at the heart of the Russian energy sector".

"As Putin continues to stall on serious peace talks, we will not stand by," he said. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hailed the EU's new sanctions as "essential and timely".

The bloc's new measures were approved after Slovakia dropped a weeks-long block following talks with Brussels over separate plans to phase out Russian gas imports.

Kremlin-friendly Slovakian leader Robert Fico – whose country remains dependent on Russian energy – dropped his opposition after getting what he called "guarantees" from Brussels over future gas prices.

France's Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot called the latest EU moves "unprecedented" and said that "together with the United States we will force Vladimir Putin into a ceasefire".

But the Kremlin said it would seek to "minimise" the impact, and warned the measures would backfire.

The price cap is originally a G7 initiative aimed at limiting the amount of money Russia makes by exporting oil to countries such as China and India. The EU and Britain said they would lower the cap on Russian oil exported to third countries around the world to 15 percent below market value. That comes despite Washington's allies failing to convince Trump to go along with the plan. (AFP)