Sanctions the EU imposed against Russia over its military operation in Ukraine will last for many years, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi told journalists following a European Council meeting on Tuesday. The restrictions that are now expected to affect oil trade will change international trade routes “for many years, if not forever,” Draghi believes.
Speaking about the energy trade, the Italian premier said that “we cannot imagine that, after the conflict, our energy policy will return to the way it was before.” The EU “must move now” to find new energy suppliers “in the long run.”
The prime minister also hailed the latest EU summit as a “success,” pointing to the fact that it was not “possible” to imagine that all EU member states would be “united on an embargo of about 90% of Russian oil just few days ago.”
The EU nations agreed early on Tuesday, following weeks of deliberations, on a ban of 90% of Russian oil imports by the end of this year, as part of the sixth sanctions package. The measure would target Russian crude delivered by sea, while allowing a temporary exemption for pipeline fuel, to win the support of Hungary and other landlocked countries.