MOSCOW, January 14. /TASS/. The European Union is considering tightening anti-Russian oil sanctions, and US President Donald Trump has imposed a 25% tariff on countries doing business with Iran. Meanwhile, Russia stands ready to discuss cooperation on Venezuelan oil with the United States. These stories topped Wednesday’s newspaper headlines across Russia.
Brussels is preparing a 20th sanctions package that would include a ban on services associated with trading in Russian oil, Czech MEP Tomas Zdechovsky told Izvestia. According to him, the deadline for additional restrictions depends on whether EU member countries can reach a consensus on the issue. Earlier, media reports said Brussels is planning to impose them by February 24.
European officials will perhaps continue to do what was stipulated in the latest sanctions packages - imposing restrictions on individual companies transporting Russian oil or increasing the number of sanctioned oil tankers, InfoTEK editor-in-chief Alexander Frolov told Izvestia.
At the same time, companies that fall under the restrictions will face no difficulties. According to Frolov, it is sufficient for them to change their name to bypass the sanctions. As for tankers, the expert believes they will continue to transport oil as they did before. The imposed sanctions do not affect this, as energy supplies continue to flow from Russia to other countries. "Depending on how broad the new restrictions are, there may be a pause of two to three months during which exports become more complicated, but this will not have a significant effect on total volumes," the expert explained.
