The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, met US Senator Lindsey Graham in Berlin on Monday 2 June to discuss EU-US coordination on sanctions against Russia in response to its war of aggression against Ukraine.
While the US Senate is due to start work next week on Mr Graham’s proposed sanctions - including 500% tariffs on countries importing Russian hydrocarbons and raw materials - the EU is preparing its 18th package of restrictive measures, which should focus on Russia’s energy and financial sectors and on lowering the ceiling on the price of oil exported by Russia, currently at $60. “These measures, combined with those of the United States, would considerably strengthen the joint impact of our sanctions”, said Ms von der Leyen, according to a European Commission press release.
From Vilnius, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday that if the new talks held with Russia in Istanbul the same day failed, the United States and the European Union would have to impose new sanctions.
“If Russia turns the Istanbul meeting into empty rhetoric, we will need a new level of pressure, new sanctions, and not just from Europe. We must work on joint sanctions at G7 level, in particular with the United States and all those who aspire to peace in the world”, he explained at the end of a B9 meeting. According to the Ukrainian President, the sanctions should affect the Russian energy sector, in particular oil price ceilings and the use of oil tankers, as well as Russian banks and the financial sector.
According to the Ukrainian side, only an exchange of seriously wounded prisoners of war or those under the age of 25 and the remains of 6,000 soldiers killed in action could be agreed during the Istanbul meeting, which lasted just over an hour. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)