The European Union is “already discussing a sixth sanctions package” in an effort “to keep up the mounting pressure on Russia to stop the war,” Danish Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod said on Monday. .
“On the Danish side, we will be willing to go as far as we can to find consensus on sanctions, including on energy,” he told reporters as he arrived for a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg.
Gabrielius Landsbergis, Lithuania’s foreign minister, said he was “happy that the European Commission has made it very clear that we are starting work on six packages with oil options.”
“And I hope this time it works.”
Asked what else is needed from the EU, Landsbergis said it was “better to go to Kiev, go to Irpin, go to Bucha and see for yourself why we need to impose sanctions.”
some background: Europe imposed punitive sanctions on Russia’s economy after Putin’s tanks entered Ukraine in late February but did not hit Russia’s energy sector.
But images of unarmed, bound and shot civilians lying along the roads of Bucha – a town that was until recently under Russian occupation – seem to have convinced the leaders to change course.
Russia’s oil and gas could be the next target. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told EU lawmakers last week that the fifth round of sanctions “will not be the last”.
“Yes, now we ban coal, but now we have to investigate oil,” she said.
Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said the EU needed to adopt a “maximalist approach to sanctions to offer the strongest possible deterrent to the continuation of this war and brutality”.
The Irish government’s view is that new sanctions should include oil, he said.
War crimes investigated: European Union High Representative Joseph Borell confirmed that European Foreign Ministers will also discuss how best to support the International Criminal Court in the investigation of war crimes committed in Ukraine.
Russia denies it carried out any attacks on civilians and blames the attacks and their disclosure to Ukrainian forces as propaganda against the Russians.
Source: CNN Brasil
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