The Commission is still working toward a permanent ban on Russian oil supplies, TASS reported Tuesday, a day after an EU naval force boarded a sanctioned shadow-fleet tanker. In Washington, the bill taxing buyers of Russian energy stays stuck.
The European Union has adopted a 21st package of sanctions against Russia, extending restrictions that include measures touching Russian energy partnerships. Moscow routinely responds to such packages with countermeasures of its own, and Russian officials, in this case foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova and Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, publicly contest both the legality and the effectiveness of the restrictions, as reported by TASS. A recurring argument from the Russian side is that the sanctions damage European economies and destabilise global energy markets more than they hurt Russia. Within the EU, individual member states have sought exemptions for sectors of national importance, and the Financial Times reports that a carve-out for Greek shipping has prompted the bloc to reconsider parts of the regime. The MOEX index, Russia's main stock benchmark, is one of the indicators cited in Russian state media to gauge the impact of each new package.
European Commission spokesperson Anna-Kaisa Itkonen said the Commission continues to work on a complete and permanent trade ban on Russian oil supplies to Europe, according to TASS. The Russian agency reported the statement on Tuesday against the background of EU gas and electricity problems.
An Italian-led European Union naval force boarded a sanctioned tanker belonging to Russia's 'shadow fleet' in the Mediterranean, Reuters reported on Monday. Physical enforcement of Western sanctions at sea is rare.
China has a way to respond to the new US sanctions bill targeting Russia and its trading partners, Jake Werner, director of the East Asia Program at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, told TASS on Saturday. He said the bill has the potential to trigger a crisis in US-China relations.
Reuters reported, as cited by Politika on Friday, that Congress could block the sanctions bill, which provides for high tariffs on buyers of Russian energy and on imports from Russia. Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, said the West is again threatening Russia with what he called draconian sanctions and that attempts to defeat the country are doomed.
The US Senate cleared a second procedural vote, with 84 senators in favour of opening debate on a bill imposing sanctions on Russia and Iran, and Trump said he supports the legislation while seeing no need for the House to interrupt its August recess for it. A separate bipartisan Senate bill would let Trump impose tariffs on the biggest importers of Russian energy, and Russia's embassy said the sanctions bill does a disservice to the US president's foreign policy.
Senate Republicans and Democrats struck a bipartisan deal on a new Russia sanctions bill co-authored by Lindsey Graham, the senator who died on 11 July, and senators voted 86 to 12 to advance it, a measure that would also give President Donald Trump new tariff powers. A Democratic aide warned that the bill hands the president unchecked discretion to waive sanctions and impose tariffs, and aides said all 100 senators were invited to meet Volodymyr Zelensky around Graham's funeral.
Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Moscow will soon announce its response to the European Union's 21st sanctions package and argued that measures against Russian energy partnerships threaten global markets, while Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov claimed the package is hitting Europe's economy and social sphere hard, according to TASS. The Financial Times reports that a carve-out for Greek shipping has prompted the EU to reconsider parts of its sanctions regime, and TASS notes the MOEX index closed 2.18 percent higher.