The European Union (EU) is working on a new sanction package to increase pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin regarding Ukraine war, the European Commission President Von Von de Leyen said on Friday, while leaders from all over Europe gathered in Albania.
The European Political Community summit, which includes countries not belonging to the EU, was held in the Albanian capital, Tyran, while Russian and Ukrainian negotiators gathered in Istanbul for their first direct peace negotiations in more than three years, under pressure from US President Donald Trump.
The EU, marginalized amid US efforts to end the war, has already adopted 17 packages of sanctions against Russia – the latest this week – and diplomats claim that it is increasingly difficult to obtain unanimous unanimity among the 27 bloc members to approve new measures.
“He doesn’t want peace, so we need to increase the pressure, which is why we are working on a new package of sanctions,” said Von Der Leyen before the summit, referring to Putin.
“The main elements of this package will be, for example: the ban on Nord Stream; new listings of the parallel fleet; a lower price ceiling for gross oil; and more sanctions to the Russian financial sector.”
Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2, each made up of two pipelines, were built by Russian state -owned Gazprom to pump natural gas to Germany under the Baltic Sea. They were broken by a series of explosions in 2022.
Authorities and diplomats said the new sanctions that European leaders have threatened in recent days would need US support to be successful.
On Sunday, Putin proposed direct conversations with Ukraine in Turkey, but rejected the challenge of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to meet in person, rather sending a team of medium -ranged authorities to negotiations.
In conversation with other European Tyran leaders, Zelensky said Ukraine’s first priority in Istanbul’s negotiations was to ensure an unconditional ceasefire to create a base for future negotiations on a peace agreement.
North Atlantic Treaty Organization Secretary General Mark Rutte said Putin “made a mistake by sending a low-level delegation.”
“What we saw yesterday and at night is more evidence that Putin does not take peace seriously,” said British Prime Minister Keir Stmerer when he reaches the tyrant summit.
Strmer said that Ukraine’s allies should act in unity, a feeling echoed by other leaders present at the summit, including von der Leyen.
“We will work on this again today to make it clear that there must be a ceasefire, but also to make it clear that if there is no ceasefire, we will act together on the sanctions,” Stmerer said.
The new German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, said Europe should increase its defense capabilities, adding that the region needs to work with the United States to end Ukraine war.
“We have to undertake every effort to keep Americans by our side,” said Merz. “We cannot replace or replace what Americans still do for us on our continent.”
This content was originally published in EU prepares new sanctions to increase pressure to Russia, says von der Leyen on CNN Brazil.
Source: CNN Brasil
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