Oil embargo, but not quite and not for everyone

The European Commission has proposed to European countries the next, sixth package of sanctions against Russia.

Its toughest element is the oil embargo against Russia.

However, upon closer examination, this embargo turns out to be somehow strange.

The package of sanctions against Russia from European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen traditionally consists of both demonstrative actions and quite painful blows.

And painful both for Russia and for the European Union itself.

Among the indicative steps is "a list of high-ranking officers and other persons who committed war crimes in Bucha and are responsible for the inhumane siege of the city of Mariupol."

Sanctions will be imposed against these persons.

And if the list of those who liberated Mariupol is known and, in general, is not hidden by anyone (people receive medals and awards), then questions arise with the Bucha list.

After all, in theory, there should be a speech about the officers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, who shot Bucha with artillery, as well as about the SBU officers, punitive detachments and the Volkssturm, who killed the townspeople, who wore white armbands, and laid out the corpses in the streets.

Yes, Western information dumps like Bellingcat were given the task of compiling a "Russian" list, but they approached the matter not very professionally - in the list they presented (which, probably,

In addition, it is interesting why, for example, those who “committed war crimes in Kramatorsk” were not included in the sanctions list, where a rocket attack was launched on the station, killing 57 people?

Why is the topic of Kramatorsk gently relegated to the background?

Maybe because the Ukrainian provocation was done so clumsily there (a type of missile was used for the strike, which was not in the Russian army) that even hardened European bureaucrats disdain to touch it?

Another sanction was another blow to freedom of speech.

“We are imposing a ban on our frequencies on three major Russian state broadcasters.

They will no longer be allowed to distribute their content in the EU in any way and in any form: via cable and satellite broadcasts, on the Internet or through applications on smartphones.

We have identified these TV channels as mouthpieces that aggressively spread Putin's lies and propaganda.

We should no longer give them the opportunity to spread lies,” said Ms von der Leyen.

In essence, we are talking about the desire to limit access to alternative information as much as possible, because a significant number of Europeans do not trust either the conditional BBC (which received a black belt for fakery during the wars in the Middle East), or Der Spiegel (who never apologized for being stuck with his fake,

which led to the fall of the Austrian cabinet in 2019).

They see dubious Western media articles about Ukrainian “freedom fighters”, compare these articles with personal experience with wrestlers (who flooded Europe and managed to get the locals with their boorish flash mobs), after which they want to see the Russian point of view.

To which the European Commission is trying in every possible way to prevent them.

The third element of the sanctions package will be new restrictions against Russian banks.

“We are disconnecting Sberbank, the largest bank in Russia, from the SWIFT system, as well as two other large banks.

By doing so, we will hit banks that are systemically and critically important to the Russian financial system and to Putin's ability to pay for the destruction.

This will strengthen the complete isolation of the Russian financial sector from the global system,” says Ursula von der Leyen.

The measure, of course, is unpleasant, but Russia in general and Sberbank in particular, in general, were preparing for it.

The diamond in the crown of the sixth package of sanctions should be a ban on the purchase of Russian oil and oil products.

“It will be a complete ban on the import of all Russian oil: supplied by sea and pipelines, crude and refined products.

We will ensure that we phase out Russian oil in an orderly manner so that we and our partners can provide alternative supply routes and minimize the impact on global markets.

That is why within six months we will gradually stop the supply of crude oil from Russia, and before the end of the year - and refined products," said Mrs. von der Leyen.

The temporary delay for six months appeared for a reason - the European Commission thus made concessions to those countries that said that here and now they were not ready to abandon Russian oil products.

That their refineries are not designed to process non-Russian oil (Slovakia stated), that they do not have logistics for supplies from alternative sources (Hungary), or that their port infrastructure needs to be modernized and improved (Germany).

Moreover, according to rumors, they are ready to make an even longer delay for Hungary and Slovakia - up to 20 months.

As a result, a number of media outlets wrote about the oil embargo as a matter not only solved, but almost fatal for Russia.

The fact that the European direction for Russian black gold is closed and that it will not be possible to redirect it to other markets.

However, these victorious reports are highly exaggerated.

Firstly, the same Hungarians did not appreciate the generosity of the European Union and do not intend to vote for the draft sanctions.

“The Brussels sanctions package will destroy Hungary's energy security.

This sanctions package in this form cannot be responsibly supported by us… It is simply a physical, geographical and infrastructural reality,” said Foreign Minister Peter Szijjártó.

According to the minister, "Hungary could only agree to these sanctions measures if an exception to the restrictions was made for the supply of oil coming through pipelines."

Secondly, not only Slovak refineries are tailored for Russian oil, and not only in Germany, the infrastructure is not ready to receive fleets of tankers with black gold from the Middle East.

Therefore, it is possible that (if the package is nevertheless accepted) Hungary and Slovakia will turn into superbuyers of Russian oil, which they will then tritely resell to European countries.

Well, or these unfortunate consumers will be forced to buy the so-called mixtures - Russian oil, to which they will mix with another, after which it will formally not be considered Russian.

All these complexities, subtleties and ambiguities perfectly demonstrate the level of determination and quality of planning of the European bureaucracy, as well as its absolute isolation from the economic realities in their own countries, where people are already howling from inflation rates and especially from rising prices for petroleum products (the same gasoline).

And instead of investing in their own countries to work to improve the well-being of Europeans, Ursula von der Leyen talks about her intention to throw billions of euros into the restoration of Ukraine (or rather, to replenish the wallets of Ukrainian oligarchs who spent money during the Russian special operation), as well as about continuation of the sanctions war against Russia.

And Eastern Europe is ready to run ahead of the locomotive.

“It is important to start discussing those areas of the Russian economy, those sectors on which we have not yet been able to agree.

Such a movement, step by step, is now taking place, and this is the most important thing, so that after the adoption of the sixth sanctions package, we would start moving towards the seventh package of sanctions,” says Estonian Foreign Minister Eva-Maria Liimets.

Where, according to Estonia and the same Poland, should enter restrictions on the supply of Russian gas, without which the economy of the same Germany (not to mention Hungary) will simply rise.

But for Ursula von der Leyen, who once claimed the post of Chancellor of Germany, these costs do not matter - it is much more important for her to punish Russia and help Ukraine.

The point of view of the author may not coincide with the position of the editors.