LONDON — The European Union is working with the U.S. as it prepares to announce its latest round of sanctions on Russia, sources told CNBC.
Despite diplomatic efforts over the summer, Russia’s more than three-year-long war in Ukraine is not showing any signs of coming to an end. In fact, Moscow has recently stepped up its offensive and on Sunday launched its biggest air attack on Ukraine, hitting a key government building.
European officials are now working on their 19th package of sanctions against Moscow, with one EU official, who did not want to be named as the measures are not yet finalized, telling CNBC these will be presented at the “end of the week [or] early next week.” The package will then have to be formally approved by the 27 members of the EU.
The European Commission and member states started informal discussions about the measures over the weekend, and a delegation of EU officials also traveled to Washington D.C. to coordinate energy-related measures with the Trump administration.
“It is clear that energy dependency on Russia will be targeted more vehemently,” a second EU official, who did not want to be named due to the sensitivity of the topic, told CNBC. “The Commission will work with the U.S. on this, especially on the Druzhba pipeline,” they said, referring to the transit pipeline that delivers Russian oil to Hungary and Slovakia, two EU member states with close links to the Kremlin.
