01/06/2022 (Agence Europe) – Negotiations between Member States’ ambassadors to the EU were continuing on Wednesday 1 June at the time of writing. After an initial discussion in the early afternoon, the ambassadors moved on to the other items on their meeting agenda before returning to the topic. According to European sources, Hungary would like Patriarch Kirill, a strong supporter of the war in Ukraine, not to be sanctioned, contrary to the initial proposal of the High Representative of the Union (see EUROPE 12945/1). According to Bloomberg, Budapest also raised minor technical issues related to the oil embargo. On the night of 30-31 May, EU leaders gave their political agreement to the 6th sanctions package, which includes, among other things, an embargo on Russian oil and the exclusion of several banks from SWIFT, including Sberbank (see EUROPE 12961/1). (CG)