Reuters: Some EU countries pushing for new restrictions against Russia

The European Commission is working to speed up the availability of alternative energy supplies to try to cut the cost of banning Russian oil and persuade Germany and other reluctant EU nations to accept the measure, an EU source told Reuters, Report informs.

Some EU countries are also pushing for other new restrictions nearly eight weeks after Russia began its invasion of Ukraine.

These include excluding Russia's top lenders Sberbank and Gazpromneft from the SWIFT banking system, halting imports of nuclear fuel from Russia, banning more Russian news channels, suspending visas for Russians, and blacklisting additional individuals and companies linked to the Kremlin, diplomats said.

None of these measures has been formally proposed and countries have different positions on them.

Neither has a date been set for the European Commission to propose a sixth package of EU sanctions against Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, EU sources said.

Work is underway, however, to assess the costs of replacing Russian oil with imports from other suppliers, one of the sources said, noting the Commission was talking to oil-producing countries to help arrange national deals for quick and moderately priced alternatives.

Brussels is preparing a full impact assessment of an oil ban as part of possible further sanctions, the source said on condition of anonymity because the source was not authorised to speak to the press.

Oil exports are the Kremlin's main source of foreign currency and many within the EU have called for an end to oil payments because they effectively finance the war in Ukraine, which Russia calls a "special military operation".

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