Part of the fifth package of sanctions due to the Ukraine war comes into force and the transition period has ended. As of Thursday, no more Russian coal may be imported into the EU.
As of this Thursday, the EU countries are no longer allowed to import coal from Russia. The transitional period for the coal embargo against Russia, which the EU states adopted in April as part of the fifth sanctions package, ends at midnight. At the time, the countries agreed on a transitional period of 120 days so that the industry could adapt to the import ban.
The aim of the import ban is to further weaken the Russian economy against the background of the war in Ukraine. According to the EU Commission in April, the coal embargo could mean a minus of around eight billion euros per year for Russia.
With the coal embargo, the EU sanctioned energy supplies from Russia for the first time. In a later package of sanctions, the EU countries also agreed to largely ban Russian oil supplies in order to further increase the pressure on Moscow. However, this is not expected to apply until the end of the year, with exceptions for a few particularly dependent countries such as Hungary, which are still allowed to receive pipeline supplies from Russia. On Tuesday, however, the Russian pipeline monopolist Transneft announced that oil deliveries to Hungary via the Druzhba pipeline had been stopped.
(APA/DPA)