Overview
- Drafting for the EU’s 20th sanctions package includes a proposal to bar European insurers, shippers and financiers from handling Russian oil regardless of price, according to sources.
- For now, the existing price cap is still set to fall to $44.10 per barrel on Feb. 1.
- Any change requires unanimous approval, and several capitals have voiced concerns over a full services ban, sources report.
- Brussels is aiming to approve the wider package by Feb. 24, the date cited by EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas.
- The package under discussion also targets Russian banks and oil firms, cryptocurrency services and third-country facilitators, expands actions against the shadow fleet, and could activate an anti-circumvention tool restricting exports to Kyrgyzstan, Bloomberg reports.