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Greek gas concession unlocks EU’s Russia sanctions package
politico.eu • • world
Key Points:
- EU countries agreed on a 21st sanctions package against Russia, allowing Greece to continue shipping Russian gas outside the bloc through a limited exemption for pre-existing contracts signed before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
- The EU froze its price cap on Russian crude oil at $44.10 a barrel for 12 months, preventing an increase that was due to war-related market changes and automatic recalculations.
- Greece secured a carve-out to protect its shipping industry, especially Dynagas, which handles a significant portion of exports from Novatek’s Yamal LNG project, with the exemption set to renew automatically unless unanimously revoked.
- The sanctions package includes tighter restrictions on entry to the EU for Russian military personnel, expands the blacklist of Russian vessels in the EU, and bans 32 additional Russian banks from transacting with EU counterparts.
- A proposed ban on Russian fish exports was removed after industry pressure, as many EU seafood producers rely on affordable Russian cod and pollock.
